As a maker of VR and MR headsets, it’s probably no surprise to hear that Meta was working on one that can compete with the Apple Vision Pro. On the flip side, especially considering the price of the bitten fruit brand’s headset, it should also not be surprising to hear that the Facebook parent has cancelled said headset.
Engadget cites The Information as reporting that Meta has told employees at Reality Labs to stop working on said device, following a product review meeting with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Internally, the project was referred to as La Jolla, with a previously planned release window of 2027.
This cancelled Meta MR headset was supposed to be “head and shoulders” above the Quest 3. Which makes sense, considering the gulf in price between it and the aforementioned Apple Vision Pro. But in the same vein, said price is also a major reason as to why the project was cancelled, as the report noted that company wanted to keep the price of its headset under US$1,000 (~RM4,343).
Which would have been a tall order anyway, as the company does have a MR headset that is arguably better than the Quest 3, which is the Meta Quest Pro. With that in mind, making something that is better than the latter while also having a smaller price tag is definitely a challenge, to say the least.
But that’s not to say that the company is giving up on the MR headset market, as the report notes that the Meta Quest 4 will be showing up sometime in 2026. Though it remains to be seen if it will be the first showing of the tech that tracks facial muscle movement as described in a patent.
(Source: The Information via Engadget)
