Who doesn’t love a good camera rumor? Or, in this case, a full-blown camera conspiracy. All centered around a trailer released for Metallica’s first immersive concert film, there appear to be hints that this project, created to be viewed only on Apple Vision Pro headsets, might be an indicator of a possibly earth-shattering new project by the tech giant.
Without getting too deep into the rabbit hole here, let’s look at some basic facts and see if we can understand where these rumors, or conspiracies, might be coming from and what, if any, truth there might be to them.
Apple Immersive Video Camera
So, let’s start with some basic facts. First, there already is an Apple Immersive Video camera. It’s called an iPhone. The latest iPhone models are capable of recording immersive video and have actually already produced some pretty spectacular immersive video films and projects since being introduced last year.
Also, as we got to demo firsthand for the first time at NAB 2025 a few months ago, the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera is a true behemoth that is capable of capturing 8K images at up to 90 fps while boasting Apple Immersive Video support with its dual 8160 x 7200 58.7MP sensors.
The results, which we got to view on an Apple Vision Pro for the first time, are quite awe-inspiring and honestly feel like a glimpse into the far future of content capabilities. Yet, questions and theories remain wanting to explore if there might be more in the cards for Apple.
Metallica Immersive Concert Film
The crux of this conspiracy can be traced to an innocuous line in the description of Metallica’s immersive concert film which was produced by Apple. The event was reportedly captured using “Apple Immersive Video” cameras rigged with some very innovatively designed remote-controlled dolly systems to capture a concert for an immersive audience like never before.
Yet, Apple didn’t quite provide all of the details here about what these Apple Immersive Video cameras were and how they were able to capture such stunning footage. This is where the theory seems to take off, which presupposes that Apple has developed its own immersive cinema cameras for this project, and this documentary was a soft launch of the new technology.
What Does the Future Hold for Apple Immersive Video?
While we’ll wait to see if Apple (or Blackmagic Design for that matter) has any additional information to officially share about new cameras or products, it does seem like the real question here has to do with the future of Apple Immersive Video.
We obviously know that Apple and Blackmagic Design have a strong partnership, as the URSA Cine Immersive camera is tailored to create footage specifically for Apple Immersive Video to be displayed on Apple Vision Pro headsets.
We also know that while iPhones can create Apple Immersive Video, there really isn’t a step between your iPhone and the URSA Cine Immersive which currently retails at around $30,000. It would make obviously sense for Apple to consider more options as Apple Immersive Video becomes more of a thing.
And that might be the best place to leave things for now. An Apple Cinema Camera could be in the cards, of course, however so could additional Blackmagic cameras that are capable of recording Apple Immersive Video. However, if speculation is your game, then this is a great one to have fun with.
