Four days before Apple is expected to enter, and likely redefine, the nascent mixed-reality (XR) headset market, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms pre-announced the latest version of its Quest mixed-reality headset, the “Quest 3” which will retail for $500.
Nick Turner for Bloomberg News:
The new Meta Quest 3 will cost $500 and ship in the fall, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, said it will continue to sell the Quest 2 model at a lower price, $300, to help “even more people access the magic of VR.”
Meta is girding for a fight with Apple in the still-nascent world of mixed reality headsets, which meld augmented and virtual reality. Apple plans to introduce its first entry to the market on Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Bloomberg has reported. That device is expected to be more powerful than the Meta product but also far more expensive, with an anticipated price of roughly $3,000.
Meta has struggled to build mainstream acceptance of the devices. It cut prices of its Quest Pro model earlier this year after demand was lower than expected.
MacDailyNews Take: Shades of Ballmer’s flop-sweat-submerged “reveal” of “HP slate” vaporware just ahead of Apple’s iPad unveiling.
Zuckerberg’s panic has, in one fell swoop, removed any reason for whatever potential buyers he had to buy Meta’s “Quest 2” headset (Osborne Effect) just as Apple is about to appropriate all of the planet’s AR/VR/XR air until Christmas and beyond. It was the absolute worst move he could have made and Apple, without a peep, pushed him into making it. 
Enjoy your lead in the VR headset market, Meta, because it’s about to evaporate forever, just like your user-tracking advertising revenue.
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