According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta will launch its new VR headset in October. We don’t know what it will be called yet, but internally it is known as Project Cambria. He said the company will likely launch it around its annual Connect event, which took place in late October last year.
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The division that creates Meta’s VR headsets is called Reality Labs, and its employees described the new headset as “laptop for the face” or “Chromebook for the face.” Much like other similar devices, it will have outward-facing cameras enabling mixed-reality experiences. According to previous reports, it will have the capability to allow users’ avatars in the metaverse to mirror their expressions and to show where they’re looking in real life.
Zuckerberg didn’t get into specifics on pricing, but it is expected that the new device will be much more expensive than the Quest 2, which is its mass market headset for more casual experiences. Bloomberg claims that the upcoming device will be called the Meta Quest Pro and that it will cost upwards of $1,000.
“For the next device that’s coming out in October, there’s a few big features,” Zuckerberg said on the Joe Rogan Experience, discussing VR at the beginning of the podcast. He proceeded to describe new social options that would be enabled by eye and facial tracking. “The ability to now have kind of eye contact in virtual reality,” Zuckerberg said as part of the feature list. “Have your face be tracked so that way your avatar — it’s not just this still thing, but if you smile or if you frown or if you pout, or whatever your expression is, have that translate in real time to your avatar.”
It will be interesting to see how this device compares to the top-of-the-line gaming VR headsets, and to the upcoming Apple VR/AR headset.
