Meta announces collaboration with multiple companies to build VR ecosystem, and opens its self-developed Meta Horizon OS to third-party companies.
(Previous summary: 2024 VR headset recommendations: Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest 3, PS VR2…which one is better?)
(Background supplement: Meta Quest Pro 2 is coming? Korean media reveals: Zuckerberg visited LG for cooperation)
Table of Contents
Meta collaborates with multiple companies to build VR ecosystem, opens Horizon OS for third-party use
Competitor Apple lowers shipment volume of Vision Pro
Market chooses Meta over Apple
Head-mounted devices have always been a competitive field for the two tech giants, Meta and Apple. In February this year, Apple’s highly anticipated first head-mounted device, Vision Pro, was released, but it encountered an unexpected turn of events. Many people complained about wearing Vision Pro causing physical issues, and even a wave of returns was reported. Meta, seeing the mixed reviews of Vision Pro in the market, took the opportunity to collaborate with multiple companies and open its self-developed Horizon operating system to third-party manufacturers.
Further reading: Bloomberg reveals five fatal reasons for Apple’s “Vision Pro returns”: the second generation will have to wait at least another 18 months
On April 22nd, Meta announced that it will collaborate with Asus, Lenovo, and Xbox, a gaming brand under Microsoft, and provide the Meta Horizon OS, which has been developed for ten years, to the companies involved in this collaboration, to jointly build the VR ecosystem.
Asus will develop a new high-performance gaming and esports head-mounted device
Lenovo will develop mixed reality (MR) devices for improving productivity, learning, and entertainment
Xbox will collaborate with Meta to create a limited edition Meta Quest inspired by Xbox
Currently, Meta’s own head-mounted devices, Quest 3 and Quest Pro, use the Meta Horizon OS. By providing it to other companies, Meta indicates that other hardware devices in the market will also use this operating system.
At the same time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called on Google to integrate the Google Play app store into head-mounted devices based on the Horizon OS. It also allows Steam and Microsoft’s Xbox cloud gaming to run in Horizon OS.
On the other hand, Apple has lowered the shipment volume of Vision Pro for this year to 400,000 to 450,000 units, far below the market’s expectation of more than 700,000 to 800,000 units. Ming-Chi Kuo, known as the “most accurate Apple analyst on Earth,” pointed out in a post that Apple had reduced orders before launching Vision Pro in non-U.S. markets, indicating a significant decline in demand in the U.S. market and Apple’s conservative outlook for demand in non-U.S. markets.
Meanwhile, Apple is also reviewing and adjusting its product roadmap for head-mounted devices. Therefore, Kuo expects that there may not be a new Vision Pro model in 2025. In addition, due to the declining demand for Vision Pro, Kuo believes that new trends such as MR head-mounted devices, pancake lenses, and Micro OLED may fall below market expectations.
Shortly after Apple launched Vision Pro, Zuckerberg shared his test experience of Vision Pro on his personal Instagram. He mentioned that in most usage scenarios, Vision Pro’s experience was not as good as Meta’s developed Meta Quest 3. In his opinion, Vision Pro sacrificed many performance and comfort aspects for better resolution, and the price of $3,500 is seven times that of Quest 3.
Many people may think that Zuckerberg deliberately depreciates the value of Vision Pro. However, his comments sparked discussions on social media, and many VR users agreed with his viewpoint. The YouTuber “Virtual Reality Oasis,” who focuses on VR topics, also compared Vision Pro and Quest 3 in a video. For him, the best use case for Apple Vision Pro is to enhance productivity and watch movies, and it is not suitable for use in public places when going out.
On the X platform, there are comments from netizens that the advantages of Quest 3 over Vision Pro are: cheaper, lighter weight, and more user-friendly for ordinary consumers who want to enter the AR/VR field. The difference in quality between Quest 3 and Vision Pro is not significant for ordinary consumers, and Vision Pro is too focused on the Apple ecosystem.
Regarding the collaboration with multiple companies to build the VR ecosystem, Zuckerberg also commented on his personal Instagram, “In every era of computing, there are open and closed models. Apple’s closed model dominates the smartphone market, where devices are tightly controlled, and user behavior is restricted. But there is also another choice,” implying that an open model may be the correct answer in the VR field.
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