Facebook parent company Meta Platforms is gearing up to unveil a new high-end virtual and augmented reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, later this year — reports Bloomberg.
Up until now, Meta’s new headset was known only as “Project Cambria.” The Quest Pro name was found referenced in the code for Meta’s Oculus VR headset app for iOS.
According to the publication’s sources, the new mixed reality offering will cost upwards of $1,000 USD. That is more than 3x as expensive as its predecessor, the Oculus Quest 2, and more than 2.5x the price of the original Oculus Quest from 2018.
To justify its cost, the Quest Pro will boast markedly better graphics processing and power. It will also feature high-resolution displays for VR, external high-resolution cameras to simulate AR in colour, new controllers, eye tracking, and more storage.
Meta is reportedly reining in spending on hardware due to the economic recession, but the Quest Pro remains a major priority for it. The company has historically led the AR/VR movement, but the Quest Pro will have to compete with a high-end mixed reality offering from Apple.
Apple is rumoured to launch its first AR/VR headset in early 2023.
The tech giant is expected to make a splash right off the bat, debuting a headset that looks like a pair of ski goggles and features a lightweight design, two 4K micro OLED displays, 15 camera modules, two main processors, eye tracking, hand gesture controls, and more. Apple’s mixed reality headset is also likely to command a similar, if not higher, sticker price.
According to Gurman, we might see Meta officially announce the Quest Pro and information on availability in October.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I love how you say that the Quest pro will simulate AR. The Quest pro is going to be a MR headset (Mixed Reality). The only way you can do that is to have a VR headset with the a great FOV (Field Of View), and then use high resolution cameras to display what the cameras see on the VR display.
What do you think Apple is doing with their first headset? Apple is basically copying what Meta is doing with their Quest line of devices. The Quest 2 is a MR headset, and it now does both AR and VR. When the Quest 2 was first released it was only VR, but they added AR as well. However the Quest 2 AR is black and white. The Quest pro AR will be full colour, and have higher resolution displays, and faster processors again. The Qualcomm XR2 that is used in the Quest 2 was chosen because it can sustain a constant frame rate, and will not throttle down. That is something that Apple is struggling with. Its also something that smartphones don’t really see much of, especially since there is only 1 display, and the resolutions on Apple’s iPhones are only around 2k at their highest resolution. If Apple wants to sustain dual 4k displays, then its no wonder why Apple is having major problems. I remember the media types were saying that Apple was going to have dual 8k displays, and now there is silence on that front.