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

[MacRumors]

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.

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.

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

 

[jz0309]

Meta rumors … “launch in 2027” … sure thing

 

[winxmac]

 

[breenmask]

more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple

 

[poematik13]

How many MBA's does it take to realize that nobody wants to pay $3500 to strap a brick to their face

 

[Kazgarth]

Just like Android/Windows, Meta has opened up it's VR OS to 3trd party manufacturers. There could be hundreds Vision Pro competitors.

Just not from Meta themself, they are going to focus only on the regular Quest.

 

[System603]

more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple

More like couldn't out-over-engineer Apple /j

Or maybe they just didn’t want to price themselves out of the AR/VR market - or at least out of their targeted tier of it.

How many MBA's does it take to realize that nobody wants to pay $3500 to strap a brick to their face

I’d prefer if they focused on just making a display device. If all the power-hungry tasks (both in terms of computing and wattage) were handled by my existing devices, like a MacBook or iPhone, then the slim, lightweight headset could simply serve as a screen for my eyes with only the necessary sensors (cameras, IMU, etc.). Perhaps this approach could also help reduce the cost of the device. Hopefully, advances in technology over the years, like Wi-Fi 7, could enable such a solution. I know there are devices like that already. But they're not Apple

Thankfully, they didn’t put the battery in the headset.

 

[G5isAlive]

all the people lining up for a cheap Apple Vision Pro want to be, are going to be disappointed.

 

[Spock]

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.

 

[Realityck]

related

Meta pulls plug on plans for high-end Vision Pro competitor

RIP La Jolla, we never knew ye.

www.theverge.com

The move suggests that Meta as a whole may be souring on the idea of premium VR. Purportedly, the goal was to keep the cost of the headset under $1,000, which was looking increasingly difficult given how expensive MicroOLED can be to produce. Compounding matters, the $3,500 Vision Pro has struggled to make an impact with customers and developers, raising questions as to whether there’s even appetite for a high-end competitor. It also doesn’t help that the Quest Pro, which launched at $1,499, was poorly reviewed and quickly faded from the spotlight.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

VR sucks. It doesn't really matter who builds it.

 

[longofest]

For the life of me, I don't understand why a company with the market cap the size of Apple is focusing so much on something that is so clearly going to have such little appeal.

To me, the holy grail of AR is sizing up tactic, holographic plasma displays that we saw from Japanese researchers in 2015: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/a-floating-holographic-plasma-display-that-you-can-touch/

If Apple could create a solution where they could project tactile, holographic images into our every day living environment without having to wear bulky visors??? What an amazing, world-changing development that would be!

 

[Ratlerbite]

more accurate headline: Meta couldn't out engineer Apple

Yes because Apple did such good job selling their Vision Pro lol

 

[longofest]

VR sucks. It doesn't really matter who builds it.

VR gaming is actually pretty awesome... but the problem is it doesn't have mass appeal.

 

[now i see it]

It’s as if the  marketing dept didn’t ask a single person whether a VP product would be something they wanted.
Because if they did - very few would say they’d be interested in a $3.5K headset

 

[holmesf]

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.

 

[fel10]

When will these out-of-touch companies—including Apple—realize that the majority of people don’t have Tim Cook’s salary?

 

[barkomatic]

This is disappointing to read. I was hoping that a higher end Meta headset could usher in the amazing gaming experience the Vision Pro could easily handle but which Apple doesn't care at all about.

 

[currentinterest]

Other rumors have it that Apple is still working on a VP 2. The device is remarkable, and is an extraordinary productivity tool. I find the immersive 3D to but an added benefit. A lower cost version will come next followed by the AVP2, which I will likely buy.

 

[one more]

“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.”

Apple started from the wrong end. Did they forget that the original iPhone was too expensive for people to buy too, so they had to lower the prices to get the interest going and grow the market. The same with Vision products, they should have released a pop version first at around 500-700$ and then thought about going Pro with its pricing. I mean for 3.5K I can turn my entire wall into a screen and share this experience with my friends, instead of sitting there in my diving mask all alone and looking all weird.

 

[LogicalApex]

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.

 

[wigby]

For the life of me, I don't understand why a company with the market cap the size of Apple is focusing so much on something that is so clearly going to have such little appeal.

What do you mean "focusing so much"? They're not focusing enough. Everyone agrees that the hardware is top notch. The problem is that there is not enough software or content. Apple needs to focus more on developers who can deliver content just like they used to with the App Store.

 

[dontwalkhand]

How many MBA's does it take to realize that nobody wants to pay $3500 to strap a brick to their face

Judging by quest 3 sales, people don't want to pay $2-$500 to strap a brick to their face either.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

How many MBA's does it take to realize that nobody wants to pay $3500 to strap a brick to their face

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.

Nobody was expecting the VP to be a blockbuster product. The price point clearly meant it was going to be a developer test bed and there to gauge public interest. People who hasn't been caught up in the media hype cycle might remember that it was originally only estimated to ship 300-400k after Apple unveiled the pricing. Then somehow VP became a failure because they couldn't reach the media-imposed goal of millions of units. While we obviously don't know Apple's own estimates, a lot of this talk of failing to meet expectations is just the media creating stories for its own sakel.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

What do you mean "focusing so much"? They're not focusing enough. Everyone agrees that the hardware is top notch. The problem is that there is not enough software or content. Apple needs to focus more on developers who can deliver content just like they used to with the App Store.

A top-notch cabbage waxer is still a cabbage waxer, and will always be limited by the amount of people that have any interest whatsoever in a cabbage waxer.