Mark Zuckerberg may be one of the biggest fans of the Apple Vision Pro, in a manner of speaking. This might come as surprising, given that Meta Platforms (formerly, Facebook) has a rival headset in the market – the Quest 3 was released in October 2023, a few months after Apple announced its “spatial computer”.
So why is Meta seemingly pleased about Apple’s entry into the AR/VR wearable segment? If you’re thinking “Barbenheimer“, you’re not entirely wrong. The Quest headset was supposed to be the perfect partner to the next version of the Internet, the metaverse. The company has invested about $50 billion into it only to receive lackluster applause in return.
Now people seem to be excited about mixed reality headsets again following the Vision Pro’s launch. So the Apple device is expected to reinvigorate the market for mixed reality headsets. Meta thinks this is good for business, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, cited by 9to5Mac.
Of course, we’ve known for a while that Zuckerberg feels the Quest will be the “primary beneficiary” of Apple’s entry into this segment. The latest is that Meta is apparently hoping their wearable will be the main alternative to the Vision Pro in the headset wars to come, similar to how Android is the biggest rival to the iPhone in the smartphone space.
Also, the Vision Pro has allegedly shifted Meta’s focus a little more towards mixed reality as opposed to pure VR. While you could easily argue that the Apple headset is strictly a VR device since the the user is fed a video of their surroundings in (almost) real-time, it still mimics an AR device.
The biggest advantage the Quest 3 has over the $3500 Vision Pro is its price point of $499. The renewed interest in headsets might allow Meta’s device to serve the lower end of the market for wearables like these. At the same time, the company’s hopes might be short-lived.
About a year ago, Samsung announced plans to build extended reality devices by partnering up with Qualcomm and Google. We’ve all seen how Apple’s focus on creating an expansive app ecosystem significantly impacted how we interact with our smartphones today and helped it grow into the behemoth it is today.
If the Google Play Store is opened to Samsung’s rumored headset, the Quest might struggle to maintain its expected position as the “Android” to Apple’s Vision Pro.
