Meta Quest 3: Zuckerberg unveils hybrid virtual reality headset

New York
CNN
—

Meta is moving forward in its efforts to take over the AR world with the new and improved Meta Quest 3.

Unveiled by CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s virtual Meta Connect event on Wednesday, the headset starts at $500 and is a complete redesign of previous models. Task 3, first Announce In June, it introduces improved performance, new immersive mixed reality features, and a sleeker, more comfortable design.

With a much more powerful processor, a higher-resolution display, revamped Touch Plus controllers, and a 40% thinner chassis, the Quest 3 is a big step forward from its predecessors. the Meta Quest 2 It allows for completely virtual reality, instead Meta Quest Pro It has advanced transit cameras to see your actual surroundings, but it costs $1,000.

Most importantly, Quest 3 supports Meta Reality, allowing users to enjoy mixed reality experiences that blend the real world with the virtual world – for example, you can play a virtual piano on a real-life coffee table.

“If you pick up a digital ball and throw it at a physical wall, it’s going to bounce off of it,” Zuckerberg said at Meta Connect on Wednesday. “If someone shoots you and you want to avoid the fire, all you have to do is sit behind your physical couch.”

The entire virtual Meta Quest library can be accessed through Quest 3 — a library that now features VR-compatible Roblox, which was released on Wednesday, and is set to add X Box cloud gaming in December, giving players the chance to play titles like Halo and Minecraft On a big screen anywhere.

The headset is available for pre-order now and will officially hit stores on October 10, available in two storage options (128GB and 512GB).

Meta’s latest headphones come three years after the Quest 2, less than a year after the Quest Pro, and less than four months after the Apple Vision Pro.

The Quest 3, which Zuckerberg called “the first mainstream mixed reality headset,” is part of The ongoing arms race Between two of the biggest players in technology dominating the headphone space — and Zuckerberg’s personal vision of a new generation of the Internet where users can interact with each other in virtual spaces that resemble real life. It comes in at a much cheaper price than Apple’s alternative (which will set you back $3,499 to be exact) and is still essentially a VR headset with alternate reality options, whereas Apple’s product is a dedicated mixed reality experience.

Ahead of Apple’s Vision Pro unveiling in June, Zuckerberg teased Meta Quest 3 just days before its big competitor’s announcement. But the relationship between the two companies was tense even before Apple entered the market. They competed over news and messaging features, and their executives traded jabs over data privacy and App Store policies. Last February, dead He said It expected to take a $10 billion loss in 2022 from Apple’s move to limit how apps like Facebook collect data for targeted ads.

The Meta has so far been the dominant player in the headphone market, but so far it has remained that way He struggled to attract A key audience for its virtual reality headset products. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Meta had just 200,000 active users on Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality social networking app. And in 2023, IDC Estimates 10.1 million AR/VR headsets will be shipped globally from the entire market, which is far less than the tens of millions of iPhones that Apple sells each quarter.

Morgan Stanley analysts called Apple’s Vision Pro a “breakthrough” effort after its June announcement, saying the product “has the potential to become Apple’s next computing platform,” but that the company has “a lot to prove” before the headset launches next year.

The biggest battle may not be between the tech giants, but for acceptance by the general public. Many analysts say the biggest hurdle to consumer adoption of mixed reality headsets is ensuring a wide range of potential use cases and experiences are available on the devices. While the Meta has introduced features that allow users to play games, explore virtual worlds, watch YouTube videos, work out, chat with friends, and more, it has yet to convince most consumers that the device is worth it.

Wednesday’s Meta Connect conference also focused heavily on the company’s AI developments, including AI-assisted photo editing and creation on Instagram, AI-powered chatbot characters (played by celebrities like Tom Brady and Paris Hilton) and Meta AI, the company’s conversational assistant . Meta AI, currently in beta, is available on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and will soon be available on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3.

Meta unveiled the next-generation version of its smart glasses that will be integrated with Meta AI on Wednesday. Upgrades include improved audio and camera capabilities, expanded power for the charging case, a slimmer design, and hands-free live streaming from the glasses directly to Facebook or Instagram.

The glasses start at $299 and are available for pre-order now through Meta or Ray-Ban.