Meta Debuts $1,500 ‘Quest Pro’ Mixed Reality Headset Ahead of Apple’s 2023 AR/VR Device

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch today of the Meta Quest Pro, a new $1,500 mixed reality headset that aims to “make the metaverse a reality.” The Meta Quest Pro has several rumored features for Apple’s AR/VR headset, which we expect to launch next year.

The mixed reality headset includes augmented and virtual reality, and is equipped with “pancake lenses” that keep it sleek while offering high resolution. Apple is also said to use pancake lenses for a thin and light design.

The Meta Quest Pro has a curved battery at the back for a more ergonomic fit and uses high-resolution, outward-facing cameras to capture 4x more pixels than the previous generation Meta Quest 2. However, it uses LCD screens, while Apple’s headsets are rumored to use micro OLED screens.

Apple’s headset is said to have more than a dozen cameras for features such as eye tracking, spatial detection, expression detection and skin detection, and the Meta outperforms Apple in some of these features. The Meta Quest Pro has 10 high-resolution sensors for eye-tracking capabilities, plus Meta says it’s able to “capture natural facial expressions,” translating them into a virtual avatar.

According to Meta, mixed reality will allow you to combine the physical world with the virtual one, so you can do things like set up a virtual workspace while using a physical keyboard and mouse.

Other features of the Meta Quest Pro include a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ chip (Apple’s headset will use its own Apple silicon chips, presumably M2 or M3), 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Touch Pro controllers that track their position in 3D space, and a 45W charging dock.

Meta Quest Pro is available for pre-order as of today, and shipping should begin on October 25th.