Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms (META.O), unveiled the Quest 3 startup’s next-generation mixed reality headset on Thursday as the business prepares for Apple’s ability to transform an emerging market that Meta has controlled so far.
An upgrade from Previous Devices
Prior to Meta’s annual gaming conference, Zuckerberg announced in an Instagram post that the device, which would start at $499, will be 40% slimmer than the company’s previous headset and offer color mixed reality, which blends augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) features. Additionally, Meta announced that it would reduce the cost of its current Quest 2 headsets while also enhancing its functionality to improve user experience.
According to Zuckerberg, the Quest 3 will include a new Qualcomm chipset with double the graphics capability of the Quest 2. At the company’s annual AR/VR conference on September 27, he vowed to provide additional information about the device and indicated it would go on sale in the autumn.
Introducing Meta Quest 3 | Coming This Fall
The Future of VR Headsets
According to a Bloomberg story, Zuckerberg’s revelation came less than a week before tech rival Apple (AAPL.O) was anticipated to debut its first mixed reality device, a high-end item with a price point around $3,000. According to a projection by market research company IDC, approximately 80% of the 8.8 million virtual reality headsets sold in 2022 will be made up of Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest Pro devices.
The Pico device from Chinese-owned ByteDance, which also controls social media rival TikTok, came in second place with 10% of the market. Nevertheless, despite its market dominance, Meta has had difficulty promoting its concept of a fully immersive “metaverse” of interconnected virtual worlds and growing the market for its products outside of the gaming industry. According to a Reuters count, the corporation designated eight of the top ten downloaded apps from its Quest store as belonging to the gaming category.
