Meta Cancels High-End Mixed Reality Headset After Apple Vision Pro Struggles

Meta has canceled work on a high-end mixed reality headset that it was developing to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, reports The Information. Meta this week told employees to quit working on the device following a product review meeting that involved Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

meta quest 3
The now-canceled device was slated for launch in 2027, and it was meant to be equipped with high-resolution micro OLED displays, which is what Apple used for the Vision Pro. Meta was aiming to sell the device for under $1,000, but that was not going to be possible with the high cost of the displays.

Meta is continuing development on the Quest 4, a successor to the Quest 3, and that headset could come out in 2026. The Quest 3 is priced at $500, which is also the likely target price point for its successor. Meta is also focusing on software rather than hardware, and it announced a Horizon OS platform for third-party hardware makers earlier this year.

When the Vision Pro launched, Meta was hoping that the device would reinvigorate the headset market and validate Zuckerberg's major push into the AR/VR space. Instead, Apple has struggled with consumer appeal, and interest in the Vision Pro has waned over time.

Enthusiasm about the Vision Pro started dying down just a month after it launched, and fewer customers visited Apple retail stores for demonstrations. Apple cut Vision Pro shipments in April, and the company is unlikely to sell even 500,000 of the headsets in 2024. As a result, Apple has stopped work on a second-generation high-cost Vision Pro and is instead focusing on creating a lower-cost model with fewer features and a price closer to high-end iPhones.

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Top Rated Comments

poematik13 Avatar
9 months ago
How many MBA's does it take to realize that nobody wants to pay $3500 to strap a brick to their face
Score: 93 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock Avatar
9 months ago

more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple
More like Apple can’t sell this over engineered device and its competitors don’t want to make the same failure. Not every company has a fan base as loyal as Apple that will buy whatever they release.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ratlerbite Avatar
9 months ago

more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple
Yes because Apple did such good job selling their Vision Pro lol
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
breenmask Avatar
9 months ago
more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
holmesf Avatar
9 months ago
to be a bit contrarian here: Meta Quest 3 is the best VR product out there and at $500 is an absurdly better value proposition than Vision Pro ... offering many of the same features: high resolution display with good FOV and passthrough, gesture control, rich ecosystem, but also bundled with game controllers and not requiring external battery pack. It also can function as a display for PC VR gaming both wired and wirelessly. Yes, Vision Pro is technologically better but it's also seven times more expensive with many expensive features which add little value like EyeSight. Meta knows the world isn't ready to use VR for productivity and that the technology isn't ready for the "spatial computing" era either. They are correctly focused on media consumption and gaming and offering the product at a more appropriate price for those use cases.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LogicalApex Avatar
9 months ago
Makes sense. I recently did the Vision Pro demo for the first time. It was definitely cool, but with my need for prescription lenses and their storage pricing. I’d be over $4K for it.

There are a lot better things I can do with $4K. Buy Apple stock instead. Buy a MacBook and an iPad. Build a serious home theater.

So many things that would be more impactful and longer lasting.

I could probably get persuaded at $1K. But not at $4K.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)