While originally a niché market has blown up into a billion dollar industry between gaming & workspace technology, virtual reality continues to bring new hardware to consumers. What did shake the foundation is Apple’s entrance into the industry with its own branded peripheral. The Apple Vision Pro priced at a very Apple price of $3,499 bridges VR/AR and its own in house visionOS to deliver a premium headset to its ecosystem.
Similarly, Meta as well has featured its own high-end peripheral as well in the past with the Meta Quest Pro. Prices at a significantly less priced $1,499, the already available alternative does better appeal to consumers with its offerings and more approachable price point. However, the Meta Quest Pro has shown to perform middling compared to other Meta devices.
According to a report from The Information in August, Meta at one point did intend to counter the Apple Vision Pro. codenamed La Jolla was planned to ship commercially in 2027, but was instead shuttered continued efforts for the prototype. The main reason to blame for the decision is the microOLED display used for the device that likely would not offer a return viable for Meta to enter manufacturing with its known pricing model so far.
On Threads, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth did respond to the reports circulating at the time on La Jolla being canned. “Just your regularly scheduled public service announcement: we have many prototypes in development at all times. But we don’t bring all of them to production. We move forward with some, we pass on others. Decisions like this happen all the time, and stories based on chatter about one individual decision will never give the real picture.”
Despite the closure of one Meta device, another is on the way for this fall. Recently, Meta revealed the Meta Quest 3S which comes this October and plans to bring the familiar $300 price tag to the Meta Quest 3 family. You can read the full report by heading here.
Would you be interested in Meta’s version of the Apple Vision Pro?
Source: The Information
