Meta continues its reign as the dominant player in the XR industry, and its latest moves signal the transition to a new era for the company, and thus the industry in general. This year saw the launch of the Meta Orion AR glasses prototype and the Quest 3S headset; These are two pieces of hardware that are not only vital to the future of Meta, but will also be pivotal in shaping the direction of the industry as a whole.
Meta Orion AR Glasses Are a Flag on the Ground
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One of Meta's most important announcements this year was the introduction of the Meta Orion AR glasses prototype. Meta has long been signaling its ambitions in the AR space, and the Meta Orion prototype represents a major step towards that vision. With its compact form factor and impressive 70-degree field of view, Meta aims to push the boundaries of what AR hardware can achieve.
Why is it important?
Meta's Orion AR glasses stand as a benchmark for the cutting-edge technology in AR glasses today. Unlike similarly sized AR devices with a narrow field of view that causes content to appear limited, the Meta Orion's 70-degree FoV erodes the 'wide enough to be useful' boundary. Getting a compact form factor and a wide field of view in the same package is crucial to making AR feel more seamless and practical in daily use.
It will be years before Meta launches something like Orion, but this is a deliberate 'drop the flag' moment for the company.
Quest 3S Accelerates Transition Away from Quest 2
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Meta has launched the Quest 3S, a new addition to the Quest series that was originally supposed to be released alongside the Quest 3. Positioned as a more budget-friendly alternative to the flagship Quest 3, the Quest 3S comes with a lower price point but still offers significant improvements in performance and mixed reality capabilities compared to older devices like the Quest 2.
Why is it important?
Meta has been hyping mixed reality for years at this point in its marketing. But most of the Quest 2 headsets (which aren't very good for MRI) hindered the company's push towards MRI.
The Quest 3S is finally a new headset from Meta that is comparable to the Quest 2 in terms of affordability, but also includes pretty good MRI capabilities.
With the Quest 2 becoming increasingly outdated, users and developers alike are expecting hardware that can keep up with more demanding VR experiences. The Quest 3S hits the sweet spot for many casual users, offering a balance between affordability and performance.
And finally, Meta has a flagship game for the Quest 3 and Quest 3S hardware. Batman: Shadow of Arkham (which is exclusive to these new headsets) is something that will allow VR gamers who are committed to the Quest 2 to upgrade to newer hardware.
Ironically, the flagship game of these new “mixed reality” headsets (as Meta now usually refers to them) is a pure VR game. Maybe with its next headphone launch the company can time its flagship right Mr application with launch.
More Immersive and Useful Mixed Reality Applications
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This year, Meta announced that it will now give developers access to camera data to create mixed reality (MR) content. This change opens up new possibilities in how MR experiences are created and how users can interact with their environments through these experiences.
Why is it important?
For years, Meta has resisted giving developers direct access to the headset's cameras. This has made it difficult for developers to create interesting MR applications that smoothly integrate and interact with the world around the user.
Not only does the Quest 3S help increase the population of Quest headsets with good MR features, this change also makes creating MR applications a more attractive proposition for developers.
It appears that Meta had initially blocked direct camera access to protect user privacy and prevent potential abuse by bad actors. Reversing this decision is risky; Another privacy scandal is the last thing Meta wants its headphones to be known for.
New Tools for Developers to Bring 'Spatial Computing' to Quest
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This year, Meta also introduced new tools that will make it easier for developers to bring both flat-screen and spatial computing applications to Quest devices. These tools are designed to streamline the development process by allowing developers to create more immersive XR content without requiring a steep learning curve.
Why is it important?
Meta's headsets are great for gaming, but it wants them to be great at 'spatial computing' too. But getting developers to bring traditional apps to its platform has been a major hurdle for the company.
One of the biggest challenges facing traditional app developers is moving from a flat-screen mode to something that exists in inherently 3D. This requires a completely different set of tools, often more in the realm of game development than app development.
Meta's new tools aim to simplify this process, allowing developers accustomed to building flat-screen applications to port their apps to the Horizon platform with minimal fuss. This opens the Quest platform to a wider range of applications, from 2D games and productivity tools to more immersive spatial experiences.
But Meta still faces an uphill battle in loading a critical portion of daily applications onto its headset. The company has publicly said it wants to bring the Play Store (and all its apps) to the headset, but it looks like Google isn't ready to play games. This is probably because he is busy working on his own XR strategy and doesn't want to outmaneuver Meta.
New Headphones on the Horizon
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In a surprising move this year, Meta announced plans to open Horizon OS to select partners who will make their own headsets running the operating system.
Why is it important?
While Meta makes solid general-purpose headphones, the company believes it's time for more specialized options. But rather than building these options itself, the company enlists help from companies that already have knowledge of creating hardware for someone else's software.
While this could bring to market a wider range of headsets that maintain access to Meta's leading content platform, the move bears a striking resemblance to Microsoft's ill-fated VR game, which commissioned major PC OEMs to produce a range of VR headsets and then quickly lose them. interest.
Since Meta owns the Horizon platform and subsidizes the cost of its own headsets, it's hard to understand how announced partners like Asus and Lenovo hope to produce such a successful headset. significantly better More than Meta currently offers And Competing with the commodity on price. This has clearly been a struggle for the HTC Vive, which doesn't have the money to spend on subsidizing its hardware like the Meta.
Meta may have already run into trouble with its partner LG, who was going to collaborate with Meta on a Horizon OS headset but reportedly had second thoughts weeks later.
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Meta's ability to burn billions of dollars on its way to owning the XR space (or “the next computing platform,” as Zuckerberg often calls it) means the company is the one steering the ship. Meta's moves this year mark the beginning of a new era for the company (while much of the industry is still lagging behind).
While Apple's entry into this space has already had a notable impact on Meta's XR trajectory, Meta won't have to truly fight for control until both companies are competing in the same price class (and for the same users) . The near-term future of XR.