Earlier today, Samsung announced the global launch of its 2024 home appliance lineup. The company has now announced the launch of those AI-equipped appliances in India. The South Korean firm conducted the ‘Bespoke AI’ event at the Samsung BKC store at the Jio World Plaza in Mumbai, India.
Samsung’s 2024 BESPOKE AI home appliances are now available in India
Samsung’s new BESPOKE home appliance lineup includes ACs, microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines. The AC lineup includes the Convertible 5-In-1 Split AC and WindFree Inverter Split AC, and they are available in various capacities and energy efficiency rating versions. They have SmartThings AI Energy Mode for maximum power efficiency. The 4-Door Flex Family Hub+ Refrigerator has a 32-inch touchscreen and an internal camera, which can be used to track things (such as items, their quantity, and their expiry date) inside the refrigerator, and to create alerts when things are about to run out of stock.
Samsung’s new AI-powered BESPOKE home appliances have built-in Wi-Fi, SmartThings, and advanced power-saving features. Thanks to those features, it gets easier for anyone to control and maintain those home appliances. For example, the BESPOKE AC lets the user know when it is time to get the filter cleaned. These appliances can be controlled using Bixby and the SmartThings app, and they offer higher energy efficiency for power bill savings. Samsung claims that energy savings can be up to 20% in ACs, up to 10% in refrigerators, and up to 70% in washing machines.
The BESPOKE AI Microwave offers personalized AI recipes with ‘low fat’ versions. It is compatible with Alexa, Bixby, Google Assistant, and SmartThings. It integrates with Samsung Food and offers special cooking modes for India: Masala Mode, Sun Dry Mode, and Tadka Mode. Samsung’s front-load washing machines use AI to learn laundry routines and adapt to your usage over time. They sense the weight of the laundry load, the kind of fabric and softness, the detergent level, the soiling level, and the water level to create a custom washing program.
Some of these appliances are already available for purchase from Samsung’s website. Some other appliances will soon be available for pre-order.
JB Park, President & CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia, said, “We are introducing Bespoke AI, our next big innovation in home appliances which will ensure smarter living for Indian homes and reduce energy consumption, contributing to a greener planet. With our Bespoke AI-powered home appliances, consumers will be able to customize their choices, get easy controls for elders and kids, and get seamless diagnosis for their home appliances. With the transformative power of AI, we are confident that Bespoke AI will strengthen our leadership in the digital appliances market in India.“
At CES 2024 earlier this year, Samsung unveiled its new home appliance lineup. Today, the company has announced the global launch of its new home appliance lineup, including 14 new products, for this year. The new appliances in the lineup were showcased at separate events titled ‘Welcome to BESPOKE AI’ in Paris and New York City.
Samsung showcases BESPOKE AI home appliances lineup and launches it globally
Samsung has added SmartThings connectivity to most of its new home appliances launched this year. Samsung DX CEI JK Han said that the new appliances can do a lot more than just the basic tasks. The refrigerator, induction range, and laundry machines have large touchscreen displays for improved connectivity and smart home integration. Samsung also showcased the new 3D Map View functionality in the SmartThings app. It offers enhanced usability and a bird’s eye view of all smart home devices in the home.
The 4-Door Flex AI Family Hub+ Refrigerator has a giant 32-inch touchscreen and an internal camera. You can view what’s inside the refrigerator without opening its doors. The refrigerator keeps track of groceries inside, tracks their expiry date, offers recipe suggestions via Samsung Food, and reminds you to refill your groceries. It can even send recipe instructions to Samsung’s new induction range or microwave oven. It can also be used to stream videos, listen to music, and control smart home devices.
The Bespoke Infinite Induction Line has a 7-inch touchscreen that can display recipes, notifications from your home, and videos. The Bespoke Slide-in Range with AI Home has a built-in microwave with an internal camera that shows your cooking progress. You can watch the cooking progress video on your Samsung TV while watching movies.
The Bespoke AI Laundry Combo has a dryer and washer in the same device. It also features a 7-inch touchscreen that lets you easily select washing programs, adjust various factors according to the washing load, and send instructions to your phone, refrigerator, or TV when the washing and drying tasks are finished. You can even watch the live video feed from the security camera or a connected smart doorbell camera.
The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo is a robot vacuum cleaner with a built-in mop. It uses the camera, sensors, and AI to intelligently recognize nearby objects, map the whole home in 3D, and adjust cleaning metrics and performance as per the flooring and dirt. It can automatically empty dirty water and get refilled with clean water from its charging station (Clean Station Steam+). It sprays high-temperature steam on the mop to dry it and clean 99.99% of harmful bacteria.
Samsung’s Mobile Smart Connect pushes an alert to the phone when it is close to a registered home appliance. The phone gets a pop-up notification with frequently used quick controls, reducing the need for a remote controller. The Calm Onboarding feature reduces the hassle of registering a product and connecting to it. Products purchased via a Samsung account are automatically registered and added to the SmartThings app.
Samsung DX CEO JK Han said, “Since the first introduction of BESPOKE in 2019, Samsung Electronics has presented to the market on how appliances can be customized to best fit each user’s home and lifestyle. Five years later, we now share our vision for AI in appliances with the products that expand the Bespoke legacy through enhanced connectivity and AI capabilities that will take the consumer experience to the next level.”
In a recent Reddit AMA, Google revealed it’s working on multiple projects for its smart home platform. Chief among these is the introduction of an offline mode. The way Google Home currently works, as explained by Android Authority, is commands sent to a device are transmitted through company servers first before affecting your network. If your internet ever goes out, commands cannot be sent at all which can be frustrating for homeowners. Offline mode will directly address this by enabling local control.
It may, however, be a while until we see the feature rollout. One of the Google devs told a commenter that the team is focusing more on routing device interaction locally through the Matter standard. They’re doing this first because they want to establish a stable software foundation with low latency before moving forward. “Once…. a significant portion of your traffic [is] running locally,” the company will look into establishing an offline mode for Google Home.
Bringing in the old
Much of the AMA saw people airing out their grievances with Google Home. They point out the many issues affecting the platform using some, shall we say, colorful language. Once you get past all the vitriol, you begin to see what’s coming down the pipeline, including adding support for first-generation Nest cameras.
The old models don’t work with the current iteration of Google Home, leading to an ecosystem filled with hardware that should function as a cohesive unit, but sadly doesn’t. Support is sporadic at the moment According to another developer, updating the firmware for those old gadgets has been a tough challenge. Some of them are ancient by tech standards having launched back in 2015. A few, like the original Nest Cam Indoor, do work with Google Home.
Expanding support
Another area the team is working on is improving integration with third-party brands like Wyze and Eufy. Several commenters asked why the tech giant is so focused on Nest devices instead of expanding support to non-Google hardware. They cite “security and quality controls as reasons for delays”. Efforts like these require closely working with partners to ensure everything runs well.
Considering that Wyze recently suffered (yet another) security breach and service outage in February, perhaps it’s a good idea for the team to take its time filling in the gaps.
And that may be all the projects the Google Home dev team is working on right now. We scoured through the nearly one thousand comments but didn’t see anything else particularly noteworthy apart from promises from the team.
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Unfortunately, a launch date for any of these features or a roadmap wasn’t given so we don’t know when these updates will arrive. But if and when they do come out, they’ll first be made available through Google Home’s Public Preview. Instructions on how to join the program can be found on the Nest Help website.
Earlier this year, Samsung unveiled its 2024 lineup of home appliances at the CES 2024 expo. Now, the company has launched those home appliances in South Korea. It is holding a promotion where newly-wed customers or those starting a new phase of life can get various benefits if they buy these new home appliances during the promotional period.
Newlyweds or people moving into new homes can get benefits while buying Samsung home appliances
From April 1 to May 31, qualifying customers can benefit from Samsung’s ‘New Spring with Samsung AI’ promotion. Across Samsung Stores in South Korea, people can buy the company’s new ACs, air purifiers, dryers, refrigerators, washers, TVs, and vacuum cleaners and get benefits and offers. Those who buy two more products can get Samsung Electronics Membership points or cashback of up to 5 million won.
Customers moving into new homes and buying Samsung appliances worth KRW 6 million will get a gift worth KRW 50,000 ($37). They would need to display proof of moving and get themselves enrolled into ‘Bespoke Wedding Club’ or ‘Bespoke Moving Club.’ Samsung wants to be the biggest AI home appliance brand. It added AI features to Bespoke AI Combo, Bespoke Grande AI, Bespoke Jet AI, and Bespoke Refrigerator.
What’s new with Samsung’s new home appliances
The Bespoke AI Combo has a 7-inch touchscreen display and can be operated from a smartphone. It also displays smart home controls for ease of use. The Bespoke AI Family Hub+ Refrigerator has SmartThings AI Energy Saving mode, AI Vision Inside (internal camera for food item tracking), and SmartThings Hub.
The Bespoke Cube Air Infinite Line can preemptively clean the room by checking indoor and outdoor pollution levels. Other AI-equipped home appliances from Samsung, including the Bespoke Grande AI, Bespoke Jet AI, and Bespoke Windless Air Conditioner, have upgraded AI features.
A Samsung Electronics official said, “We prepared this event to provide more benefits to consumers as the wedding and moving season involves purchasing multiple products at once. I hope you will see changes in your daily life.”
Your iPhone doesn’t need to look like it came from 2012. You can easily swap out wallpapers and/or customize iPhone Home Screen layouts by adding widgets and folders (and by hiding unwanted apps from your view).
This guide will help set up your iPhone screen so it looks exactly how you want it to.
How to customize iPhone Home Screen layout
Gone are the days when you could do nothing more than shuffle icons around. Apple now offers plenty of ways to customize your iPhone Home Screen, though some restrictions remain on what you can do. (The company reportedly plans to add even more Home Screen customization options in iOS 18 later this year.)
In iOS 17, moving apps around or organizing them in a folder is easy — you can even hide them from your Home Screen. But you can’t place apps anywhere you want. And while creating a blank Home Screen is possible, it is not a straightforward process.
The traditional way to Change iPhone wallpaper is in the Settings app. Screenshot: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
It’s super-easy to change your iPhone Home Screen’s wallpaper, and there are lots of options for images. There are dozens of images built into iOS itself, including the iconic clownfish wallpaper used in the original iPhone. Or you can choose photos from your photo library or images you’ve downloaded and added to your photos.
There are actually two ways to change iPhone wallpaper — from the Settings app or directly on the Lock Screen (see below). To use the Settings app:
Open Settings, then tap Wallpaper.
Tap Add New Wallpaper.
Then select from the options at the top of the next screen. To choose from your own photos, select either Photos, People, Photo Shuffle or Live Photo. You can also choose built-in wallpapers from categories like Weather (which shows live weather based on your location), Astronomy (for cool shots of Earth, the moon or Mars), Kaleidoscope (for a cool kaleidoscope animation), Emoji, Unity, Pride, Collections (where you can find the clownfish wallpaper) or Color (which offers hundreds of different color gradients).
You can now customize the selected wallpaper by changing or adding Home Screen widgets (see below). Then tap Add.
Choose Set as Wallpaper Pair for your new wallpaper to show on both the Home Screen and Lock Screen. Or tap Customize Home Screen to create a separate Home Screen wallpaper that can be further edited by changing the color, gradient or adding a photo. Hit Done.
Choose a different wallpaper style
After selecting a new wallpaper, there are lots of options for customizing it. Screenshot: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
After you’ve selected a new wallpaper, you can swipe left or right to choose a different style. There are tons of options. You can zoom in or out, change the background, or background color, and adjust the widgets (for more on Home Screen widgets, see below).
How to change iPhone wallpaper from Lock Screen
Changing your iPhone wallpaper from the Lock Screen is similar to changing faces on Apple Watch. Screenshot: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac
Similar to changing faces on Apple Watch, you can also change your iPhone Home Screen wallpaper from the Lock Screen. It’s handy for quickly changing wallpapers without digging around in Settings, or for quickly switching Focus modes.
First, make sure Face ID is set up on your iPhone. Before you can change your wallpaper, Face ID checks your face before entering the wallpaper Customize screen. If Face ID is set up, just tilt your iPhone up to your face or press on the screen. There’s no need to unlock your device.
Press and hold your Lock Screen to open the Customize wallpaper screen.
Hit Customize, then select either Add New Wallpaper or Customize Current Wallpaper.
Alternatively, just hit the blue + button to bring up the Add New Wallpaper screen. Again, from here, you can choose from your own photos or from the different wallpaper categories.
To change your wallpaper to one you’ve already created, just swipe left or right. If you swipe left all the way to the end, you’ll find an Add New card that again brings up the Add New Wallpaper screen.
You can also associate your wallpaper with a specific Focus, like Do Not Disturb or Driving. Just hit the Focus button to link your selected Focus to a particular wallpaper.
To delete a wallpaper, swipe up. Then tap the red Trash Can to delete it.
How to organize apps on iPhone Home Screen
Moving apps around on the iPhone’s Home Screen is easy. Screenshot: Rajesh/Cult of Mac
You can move one or multiple apps together on your iPhone’s Home Screen.
Long-press on an app you want to move. Select Edit Home Screen from the menu that appears.
Alternatively, you can long-press on an empty area of your iPhone’s Home Screen. All apps and folders on the screen will start jiggling.
Then, drag the app to its new position. Move the app to another Home Screen page by dragging it to the display’s right (or left) edge.
To move multiple apps, long-press on an app icon. Then, using your other hand, select the additional apps you want to move.
Move all the selected apps at once, then tap Done on the top-right corner to save the changes.
You can follow the same steps to move a folder around.
Since the iPhone’s Home Screen is organized in a grid layout, you cannot place apps anywhere you want. For example, it’s not possible to have two apps at the top of your Home Screen and two at the bottom. They will automatically snap together based on a 6 x 4 grid layout.
Placement aside, if you really want to give your phone a makeover, consider using custom app icons to give your iPhone’s Home Screen a fresh new look.
Note: Using Assistive Access, an accessibility feature in iOS 17 that “makes it easier for people with cognitive disabilities to use iPhone independently,” you can set up a very stripped-down iPhone Home Screen. However, that is beyond the scope of this article.
How to create app folders
To create a folder on your iPhone’s Home Screen, drag one app over another when in Edit Home Screen mode. iOS automatically adds a name to the folder based on the apps inside. However, you can customize this name to your liking.
Remove all app shortcuts from inside a folder to automatically delete it.
How to hide apps from iPhone Home Screen
You can hide or remove apps from your iPhone’s Home Screen. Screenshot: Rajesh/Cult of Mac
Sometimes, you might want to remove an app from your iPhone’s Home Screen but not uninstall it. This is also possible — here’s how.
Enter “jiggle mode” on your iPhone’s Home Screen by long-pressing on an empty area.
Then, tap the – button on any app you want to hide.
Select Remove from Home Screen from the dialog box that appears.
Any app you remove will remain in your App Library, which is accessible by swiping to your iPhone’s rightmost Home Screen page. (If you want to cut down on the number of app icons on your Home Screen going forward, you also can have new apps sent directly to the App Libary.)
Alternatively, to find an app you’ve removed from the Home Screen, swipe down on your iPhone’s display to trigger Spotlight. Then search for the app you want to open.
How to remove a Home Screen page
Remove unwanted iPhone Home Screen pages to reduce clutter. Screenshot: Rajesh/Cult of Mac
Like apps, you can remove or hide a Home Screen page on your iPhone.
Enter editing mode on your iPhone’s Home Screen by long-pressing on an empty area.
Tap the home page switcher at the bottom. You will get an overview of all available Home Screen pages.
To hide a Home Screen page, tap the check mark below it.
If you want to remove the page with all the app shortcuts, tap the – button on the page’s top-left corner.
Tap Done on the top-right corner to save all your changes.
Remember that removing a Home Screen page with app shortcuts won’t delete the apps from your iPhone.
How to add widgets to iPhone Home Screen
Add widgets to the iPhone’s Home Screen to increase its usefulness. Screenshot: Rajesh/Cult of Mac
Apart from apps, you can add widgets to your iPhone’s Home Screen to view important information at a glance. iOS 17 added support for interactive widgets, further increasing their usefulness. Even better, you can stack widgets on top of each other to save space.
Not all apps offer widgets, but many do. Here’s how to add widgets and customize your iPhone Home Screen even more:
Enter your iPhone Home Screen’s editing mode by long-pressing on an empty area.
Tap the + symbol in the top-left corner.
Proceed to select the app whose widget you want to add, followed by the widget type and size.
You can tap the Add widget option or long-press it to place it on your Home Screen.
If there’s no space on your Home Screen, some app icons will be automatically moved to the next page.
To create a widget stack, drag and drop another widget on top of an existing one. (Note: A stack is only created when two widgets are of the same size.) Your iPhone will automatically cycle between the available widgets in a stack based on your location, time and usage. You can edit a widget stack by long-pressing it.
How to remove widgets
Customize a widget stack by adding or removing widgets anytime you like. Screenshot: Rajesh/Cult of Mac
Removing a standalone widget from your iPhone’s Home Screen is easy. Just long-press on it and select the Remove Widget option that appears.
To remove a widget from a stack, follow these steps.
Long-press on the widget stack.
Tap Edit Stack.
Scroll to the widget you want removed from the stack, then tap the – button on the top-left.
Confirm your action by tapping Remove from the dialog box that appears.
A widget stack will automatically cycle through all available widgets based on your location, time of day and preference. If you find this annoying, you can edit the widget stack and disable the Smart Rotate option.
With beautiful wallpapers, widgets and custom app icons, you can customize your iPhone Home Screen layout to make it much more functional. The only thing missing is the ability to place an app icon wherever you want. Maybe Apple will hear our plea with iOS 18. (Update: It sounds like Apple plans to do just that.)
Note: We originally published this how-to on January 17, 2024. We updated it with new information on changes reportedly coming in iOS 18.
iOS 18 could finally let you create a blank Home Screen row. Concept: Kevin Kall
A new report claims Apple will allow for greater Home Screen customization in iOS 18. One of the upgrades will allow you to place app icons anywhere on the screen.
You will have the flexibility to create blank rows and columns, though the icons will still snap to a grid.
iOS 18 might fix a major Home Screen customization limitation
Apple has added several Home Screen customization options, starting with iOS 14’s release in 2020, such as Home Screen widgets and App Library. However, you cannot place app shortcuts anywhere on your iPhone Home Screen or have blank rows or columns.
If the MacRumors source is accurate, this should change with iOS 18 later this year. This should fix one of the significant customization limitations of the iPhone’s Home Screen.
The report is light on other details but claims that iOS 18 could bring the “biggest Home Screen revamp in several years.” This should make tweaking your iPhone’s Home Screen a lot more fun.
Biggest iOS update since its inception
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman was the first to report this change in the next iOS release. As per him, iOS 18 is apparently shaping up to become the biggest iOS update since the original iPhone.
In his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman claims Apple will bundle a bunch of AI features in the next iOS release that will be useful in daily life. These on-device AI enhancements will differ from iOS 18’s rumored cloud-based generative AI features. Apple will purportedly team up with Google or ChatGPT to power the latter.
Gurman believes visionOS 2.0, codenamed Constellation, will drop this year. Apple might possibly showcase the next major OS release for its mixed reality headset at WWDC24 alongside iOS 18 and watchOS 11. The latter will be a minor release.
Apple’s yearly developer conference should take place in June this year.
The first iPhone was launched in 2007, while the first Galaxy smartphone was unveiled in 2009. Ever since their launch, Android and iOS have copied features from each other, but Android has always been better at UI customization. While Apple has made several improvements in the past few years, it still lacks a basic feature that has been present on Galaxy (and other Android phones) for 14 years.
iOS 18 could bring blank space support to the iPhone’s home screen
MacRumors is reporting that iOS 18 will bring more home screen customization support to iPhones. While app icons on the home screen will still be locked to an invisible grid structure, iPhone users could have black spaces, columns, and rows between app icons. The information about a more customizable UI was first reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
It is already possible to create custom icons for apps on iOS, it requires a lot of effort and using the Shortcuts app. In comparison, Galaxy users can easily do so by installing a third-party app launcher and an icon pack. One UI lets users customize the colors of app icons using the Color Palette feature. One UI also lets users change the app icon grid size for the home screen, app drawer, and folders. They can also change the colors of the folders.
Other features expected with iOS 18 include support for RCS (for better messaging between Android and iOS), Generative AI support for Siri, and AI features for many stock apps.
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Home Screen on iOS 17
While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce the ability to create blank spaces, rows, and columns between app icons.
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman was first to report that the iPhone would get a “more customizable” Home Screen starting with iOS 18. It is already possible to customize the Home Screen and create blank app icons with apps such as Shortcuts and Widgetsmith, but Apple’s own personalization options will be more convenient and official.
iPhone users have already been able to customize the Lock Screen since iOS 16, and we expect the Home Screen to receive similar treatment with iOS 18. The update will introduce additional customization options for the Home Screen, according to our sources, and this could result in the biggest Home Screen revamp in several years.
Apple will announce iOS 18 at its annual developers conference WWDC in June. Other features and changes rumored for the update include new generative AI functionality for Siri and multiple apps, RCS support in the Messages app for improved messaging between iPhones and Android devices, design changes, and more.
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Whether you’re talking about your aging laptop’s screen or that brand new OLED TV you just bought, all of them will get dusty and dirty over time. You may be hesitant to give the screens in your home a thorough cleaning, and the fact that there are so many products out there that claim to do it best doesn’t help. But we’ve found that the best route is actually the simplest. If you want to refresh all of the screens in your home, we’ll outline the best methods that will help you do so properly without damaging any of your gear.
How not to clean your screens
Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
Before we get to how to clean a screen, there are a few ways you don’t want to go about the process. The first, and most important, is that you don’t want to clean a display using substances like isopropyl alcohol or Windex. Alcohol- and ammonia-based cleaners can damage your screen’s anti-reflective coating. Using those substances repeatedly can lead to clouding and the coating becoming uneven.
Companies like Whoosh make cleaning agents that won’t damage your screen, but in my experience, you’re best off using distilled water. It’s more affordable than a dedicated cleaning agent and more versatile too since you can use it on a variety of surfaces. It also won’t leave behind any residue on your display, which is something I’ve seen products like Whoosh do occasionally. You can buy distilled water at a grocery store or make it yourself with some simple cookware.
In a pinch, you can use tap water, but we recommend against it. Depending on the hardness of the water in your area and how your municipality treats it, there may be minerals and chemicals that will again either leave behind residue or, worse yet, damage your display’s coating.
Once you have some distilled water, you’ll want a separate spray bottle. One option is to reuse one you already have at home, but if you don’t have a spare, Muji makes these handy travel bottles in 100ml, 50ml and 30ml sizes that are perfect for the task, and you can find similar bottles on Amazon.
Next, be mindful of what you use to wipe your screen. You want to avoid using paper towel, dish rags and anything else that may have an abrasive surface that will damage the coating on your screen. You can use the sleeve of an old but clean t-shirt. That said, you’ll get the best results using microfiber cloths. That’s because the fabric they’re made from is extremely soft and good at attracting dust. We suggest buying a pack of them so that you always have a clean one on hand. The last thing you want to do is use a dirty one and transfer any dirt and grime onto your display.
Lastly, avoid spraying any liquid directly on a display. You’ll have a lot more control if you deposit it on your microfiber cloth and it’s much easier to avoid any of it making its way into the more sensitive parts of the display.
How to clean your screens
Photo by Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
With all that out of the way, the actual process of cleaning a display is straightforward. If you’re only dealing with some dust, use a can of compressed air or an air blower to dislodge it. You can also turn to a dry microfiber cloth.
For anything more than that, dampen your microfiber cloth with a small amount of distilled water and then gently wipe the display. Once you’ve gone over the entire surface, turn over the cloth and use the dry side to remove any excess water. At this stage, avoid buffing the screen or using excessive pressure. You don’t want to work any particles into the surface of the screen.
That’s it. You should have a clean display now. Obviously, it will take longer to clean a bigger screen, but you can put to use the tips mentioned for all types of displays, including TVs, monitors and glass smartphone displays.
The most recent chapter in our collective love affair with 3D movies came and went quickly, with set manufacturers scrambling to add the feature to the best TVs around 2010, and then retreating completely from 3D support soon after. In a few short years, it was over. During that era, I amassed a sizeable collection of Blu-ray 3D discs, and they now sit filed away in a remote corner of my media cabinet, a reminder of that time and a potent source of nostalgia.
It may have disappeared from TVs, but 3D never really went away. Movies on Blu-ray 3D continue to trickle out, though if you want to view them in that format you need to watch them on the best 4K projectors, some of which still support 3D. You can also catch movies in theaters in 3D, with the most recent blockbuster showcase for the format being the Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water.
Now, there’s another way to watch movies in 3D at home: the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Movies in 3D can be purchased on the Vision Pro’s Apple TV app, and an extensive collection of titles are available to stream on its Disney Plus app. Three titles – these are Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic – are also available in those apps in a “motion-graded” High Frame Rate (HFR) format, which is how they were shown in Imax theaters – The Way of Water on its initial release, and Avatar and Titanic in re-release.
Pixelworks, the company behind the TrueCut motion grading technology used for the post-production of all three movies, recently lent me a headset so I could check out motion-graded 3D on the Apple Vision Pro, which is currently the only source for home 3D movie releases other than Blu-ray disc. It was a treat to spend time with Apple’s pricey, elaborate mixed reality headset, which you can read all about in our Apple Vision Pro review. Playing movies in 3D format is just one of the many things the Apple Vision Pro can do, and it does it exceptionally well.
Blu-ray 3D disc collection animation highlights (Image credit: Future)
Looking back on 3D TVs
Having spent many hours watching 3D movies with my kids during the 3D TV heyday – plenty of the releases were animated ones, and they were at the prime age to enjoy them – I’m well aware of what good – and mediocre – 3D looks like. Perhaps the best example of 3D animation I know of is Coraline, based on the book by Neil Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick (Coraline, incidentally, is getting a 3D theatrical re-release in summer 2024 to celebrate its 15th birthday). That disc got plenty of play in my house, and it’s one I would regularly use to test 3D TVs.
Another successful example of 3D cinema is the original Avatar, which looked fantastic in theaters and on Blu-ray. Aside from watching Martin Scorcese’s Hugo, another 3D triumph, it would be 13 years before I found myself absorbed by a 3D movie, and that was when I watched Avatar: The Way of Water at an IMAX theater. But in the case of Avatar: The Way of Water, 3D was only one thing that made the experience impressive. Another, equally important, one was its motion-graded Cinematic HFR presentation.
TrueCut Motion: how it works
Unlike typical movies shown with a 24 frames-per-second (fps) frame rate, movies motion-graded using Pixelworks’ technology display at a higher, 48 fps rate. HFR’s main benefit is it eliminates the judder and blur artifacts accompanying fast-motion scenes captured at 24 fps. But boosting the frame rate to 48fps can also give movies an overly fluid and unnatural look, especially in quiet scenes with no action.
With TrueCut motion grading, the filmmaker can selectively vary frame rates on a scene-by-scene basis in post-production, using a higher rate for fast-action scenes, and a standard 24 fps rate for more typical ones. This process will give viewers the best of both worlds: crisp, blur- and judder-free images in shots with action, and a natural sense of motion when the action slows down.
The Apple Vision Pro is bulky, but less uncomfortable than I expected (Image credit: Future)
Enter the virtual theater
To compare motion-graded and non-motion-graded movies on the Apple Vision Pro, I first watched a downloaded version of No Time to Die, the most recent entry in the James Bond film franchise. No Time to Die is a movie with action scenes galore, and it’s one I’ve used many times to evaluate a TV’s motion handling. So, why not also on Apple’s mixed-reality headset?
Watching a scene where the camera pans slowly across a cemetery on a rough, hilly landscape, the image showed plenty of motion blur and a significant loss of detail. In a subsequent scene where Bond and Madeline race in a car through city streets with assassins in hot pursuit, buildings in the background also had a blurred quality that made the image look overly soft.
It would have been an ideal comparison if a motion-graded version of No Time to Die were available (it’s not), but I instead had to make do with watching a download of the motion-graded version of the original Avatar.
Same as when I watched it in a theater, and on 3D TVs back in the day, Avatar on the Apple Vision Pro had excellent 3D depth, and I was easily immersed in its 3D world. TrueCut motion grading made the film’s almost non-stop action scenes look consistently crisp, with the Na’vi and the creatures they rode upon and the intricately rendered jungle backgrounds looking equally solid and detailed. I also didn’t feel the action was happening unnaturally fast, which would have quickly whisked me out of the 3D world.
Checking out other 3D movies in the Disney Plus app, Avatar: The Way of Water was a highlight, with eye-popping 3D effects and fantastic picture contrast made possible by the Apple Vision Pro’s powerfully bright display. It looked better than I remembered from my theater experience, though the motion wasn’t as consistently natural across scenes as in the re-mastered Avatar.
An example of the ‘active shutter’ 3D glasses used with 3D TVs and projectors (Image credit: Future)
The new 3D – same as the old, but with a twist
I may harbor nostalgia for 3D movies, but I can’t say I’ve missed them terribly since the last 3D boom fizzled out. Avatar: The Way of Water was a welcome throwback, but one 3D blockbuster doesn’t equal a 3D revival.
Fortunately for movie fans, motion-graded Cinematic HFR is catching on. Following Avatar, its sequel, and Titanic being shown in theaters in the format, Argylle and Kung Fu Panda 4 from DreamWorks Animation have been released in Cinematic HFR. That indicates steady progress for the format, especially since both Argylle and Kung Fu Panda 4 are from studios other than Disney.
I’ve had fun watching 3D movies on the Apple Vision Pro, though there admittedly is something a bit alienating about sitting in a chair wearing a headset for extended periods. But then again, 3D movies have always involved wearing some form of awkward eyewear that removed you from everyday existence, and maybe that’s their ultimate appeal.
Home Screen on iOS 17
