Vision Pro doesn’t have controllers, although that’s not stopping third-party hardware creators from trying to bypass Apple. Enter Surreal Touch, a newly announced motion controller that aims to leverage Vision Pro’s ability to play PC VR games, but not only.

Surreal Interactive, the startup behind Surreal Touch, is hoping to bring the controllers to market some point next month, with its price revealed at the time of launch.

Similar to Meta’s Touch Pro controllers, Surreal Touch contains optical sensors with fisheye lenses that allow the device to track independently from the headset.

Image courtesy Surreal Interactive

Also very similar to Meta’s Touch Pro, you’ll find a ring-less design thanks to its inside-out optical sensors, onboard SLAM tracking allowing for 6DOF input, and a standard button configuration that anyone with a modern VR headset will instantly recognize.

Speaking to CEO and founder Zhenfei Yang, Road to VR learned that Surreal Touch will ship with a SteamVR compatibility mode, which supports all existing PC VR games. That means you’ll need a VR-ready PC to play games like Half-Life: Alyx (2020), which the company shows working below:

And just how will that work? Surreal Interactive says it’s currently developing a Vision Pro-native streaming app, which promises to let you play SteamVR games from your computer at “4K, 120 Hz.”

While PC VR gameplay is undoubtedly a big focus, the company says it’s also working on its own native SDK, which will allow Vision Pro app developers the ability to support Surreal Touch.

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“We’re currently collaborating with several studios to port their games to the AVP platform. Additionally, we have plans to reach out to and partner with more developers in the near future,” Yang told Road to VR.

Surreal Interactive also teased it’s working on a ‘Tool Mode’, which presumably could also allow for basic UI selection when in Vision Pro, however the company hasn’t revealed its exact function, stating only that the additional mode is “still undergoing in-house development. Stay tuned for more details.”

There’s still plenty to learn about, including battery life, real-world tracking accuracy, compatibility with other headsets, price, and more. We’re hoping to learn more closer to launch, so check back soon. In the meantime, check out the spec sheet below:

Specs

Tracking
Positioning Accuracy: Less than 10mm, Less than 1 degree
Refresh Rate: 100Hz
Computer Vision and SLAM Technology, dual fisheye camera
Design Length: 125mm
Width: 71mm
Height: 77mm
Weight: 148g
Compact, ring-free design
Streaming App
Vision Pro Native
Graphics: 4K resolution at 120Hz
Software Optimization: Stream 4K 120Hz SteamVR Graphics to Your Headset, unmatched by others
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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • ViRGiN

    This is insanely bad. Please tell me this is coming to Kickstarter.

  • Well, they look cool ….
    #WhereAreTheDatagloves
    []^ (

  • 1cm of accuracy is not that great to be honest

  • Arno van Wingerde

    Right…. a small firm – Chinese, I presume? – coming up with controllers for the AVP. OK not a bad idea by itself, since Apple forgot to bundle them: at the price level of the AVP, Apple clearly needed to make compromises, right?
    So they make hardware, which a decent percentage of AVP users, per definition people with an interesting brains-to-cash ratio will buy, realising that the gorgeous screen of AVP needs to be used for somewhat more satisfying than a poor monitor replacement or only watching movies. So far so good: they can easily ask the price of a Quest3 for the controllers, because of the AVP market.

    Not so good: the available AVP market is really small, making a few hundred $ profit per set will not actually pay for the fairly large and typically hopelessly underestimated effort needed to get the software to a usable level -and most people won't buy it before it shows that it can be used for games. Also, it is not a first party device that every AVP user has, just a subset of those and likely not actively supported by Apple. Even such accessories for much larger markets have failed due to the lack of numbers which causes designers to ignore it, here this is even more the case. If a few million AVPs were sold it might have a chance, but not like this.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Is it also usable as SteamVR controllers so you can use it with other PCVR headsets, as I don't care about AVP.

  • I'm into it long term for my own gaming but with an already very tiny AVP gaming market that then niches further with peripherals- I'd need to see uptake to justify supporting them in my own work.