Meta has reportedly canceled plans to release a high-end mixed reality (MR) headset to compete with Apple’s Vision Pro, citing expensive core components that did not lower the worth.
The Information reported on the twenty third (local time), citing internal employees, that the order to halt product development was given following a gathering of Meta executives this week, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth.
In response to this, the discontinued device is codenamed ‘La Jolla’, and was speculated to have been developed since November of last yr and was scheduled for release in 2027. It was planned to be a premium MR headset and introduce the ultra-high-resolution micro OLED display utilized in the Vision Pro.
Nevertheless, it is thought that they’ve struggled with the issue of lowering the worth. Micro OLED displays are characterised by hundreds of thousands of pixels, but they’re small in size and difficult to supply, requiring a fancy process much like semiconductor manufacturing. It’s a key component that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are also said to have shown interest in immediately after the discharge of the Vision Pro.
Reality Labs, Metaverse’s division, reportedly tried to lower the worth of the headset to under $1,000, but concluded that it was unattainable. The Vision Pro also had a high price tag of $3,500 because of the use of costly components, which led to poor sales.
This decision signals a change in Meta’s strategy. First, Meta is moving away from making and selling devices and is attempting to transition to an XR platform like Android. Particularly, in April, it announced the event of an XR platform called ‘Horizon OS’ and is searching for partners to develop headsets using it.
During this process, CEO Zuckerberg visited Korea and announced that he had decided to form a partnership with LG Electronics. Nevertheless, this project fell through.
Meta may even give attention to developing AI glasses equivalent to Ray-Ban smart glasses. It has already reorganized Reality Labs to give attention to AI glasses.
The corporate is predicted to unveil latest augmented reality (AR) glasses with displays built into the lenses at its Connect event in September, though it’s expected to be several years before they’re available.
Meanwhile, because of Meta’s abandonment of its high-end headset, attention is targeted on the Samsung-Google MR headset that is predicted to be released in March of next yr. Because of the failure of the Vision Pro and Meta’s abandonment of development, development of headsets priced at over $1,000 is currently on hold.
‘Quest 4’, which Meta is currently developing and scheduled to be released in 2026, is thought to be a mid-to-low-priced model. The prevailing ‘Quest 3’ is sold for $500 (about 660,000 won), and ‘Quest 2’ is sold for $200 (about 260,000 won).
Reporter Im Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com
