Meta is reportedly discontinuing its Quest Pro line. This also means that development for the next high-end mixed-reality Quest Pro 2 is also being cancelled prior to launch.
It’s being reported that Goertek, the Quest Pro manufacturer was approached by Meta and told that new components won’t be needed as early as the beginning of 2024. Therefore, the manufacturer is to continue producing Quest Pro headsets as long as Goertek has available supplies. After that, production of the headset will supposedly cease.
In addition, ZDNet reports that Meta is shutting down the development of its Quest Pro 2. The follow-up headset was intended to be a proper successor to the high-end headset that launched in October 2022. It’s believed that Meta is shifting its focus away from Quest Pro 2 in order to better support the incoming launch of Quest 3, a more affordable device in the Meta Quest portfolio.
The Quest Pro headset launched to mixed reviews last year from critics and users. The AR/VR headset wasn’t positioned as a gaming-first headset. Instead, Meta marketed the Quest Pro as a professional headset, with a $2,299 CAD price point. Many users were shocked by the price point, leaving Meta to quickly drop the price over the next few months. Now, the Quest Pro is available for $1,399 CAD.
This year, all eyes are on the Meta Quest 3. This long-awaited successor to 2020’s Quest 2 is rapidly approaching. Earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Quest 3 headset. He claimed the headset would offer higher resolution, stronger performance and cutting-edge technology. Quest 3 supports dual 4MP RGB colour cameras and a depth sensor. It’s also said to have a 40 percent slimmer optic profile.
Quest 3 will be available in Canada this fall and starts at $689.99. More information is expected to come from Meta’s Connect conference on September 27th.
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!
Personally, I think Meta was looking at adding eye tracking to different versions of the new Quest 3, and charge slightly more for a another version of the Quest 3 that has eye tracking. Face tracking was neat on the Quest Pro, but it would only be used in a very few software instances. Where as eye tracking can be used in lots of other areas as well. So if Meta could just implement an inexpensive version of eye tracking on another version of the Quest 3, then I could see the Quest 3 Pro device. If Meta could really create inexpensive eye tracking for the masses, then I could see the Quest 3 implement eye tracking to a much better, and faster Quest 3, verses the slower XR2+ hardware found on the Quest Pro. The newer Snapdragon XR gen 2 is suppose to have a GPU that is 2 times faster than the Quest 2 XR2 processor, plus AI is suppose to be 7 times faster. The newer Snapdragon XR gen 2 chip is suppose to support up to 10 camera inputs, instead of just 7 camera inputs. Plus the camera input is suppose to be 4 times faster than the original XR2 chip. Not to mention the newer SoC is suppose to support the newer and faster LPDDR5 RAM.