Alibaba’s Taobao launches 3D-capable shopping app ahead of Apple’s mainland release of Vision Pro mixed-reality headset

Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace, has launched a new shopping app with three-dimensional functions designed for the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, as mainland consumers await the domestic release of Apple’s latest product.

The app was rolled out last Friday for use on the US$3,499 mixed-reality headset, which the US tech giant released in February in the United States, the only market where the wearable device is currently available. Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said that the Vision Pro is expected to be available in China this year.

Some mainland Vision Pro users, who were able to buy the headset in the US, shared their experiences of using Taobao’s new 3D-capable app on Chinese social media, giving positive feedback on the domestic Alibaba e-commerce platform’s updated product display capabilities. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

An app user browsing a DJI drone, for example, sees the device flying with its propellers spinning on the Vision Pro interface. Users can virtually move the drone’s 3D image via hand gestures and check the detailed information on every side or angle of the device.

“The light effect of the goods can be adjusted in real time according to the lighting in the room,” Bilibili blogger Zhong Wenze said in his video about the new Taobao 3D shopping app. Zhong suggested there was room for improvement because the measurement of virtual goods, as seen on the app, was “a little inaccurate” from their actual physical size.