Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has challenged Apple, saying Meta's Quest 3 headset is better than Apple's Vision Pro for mixed reality.
In a recent Instagram video clip posted on February 14, Zuckerberg articulated his vision for Meta as the torchbearer of an open model in the next generation of computing.
Drawing parallels to the historical evolution of computing paradigms, Zuckerberg emphasized the success of an open model during the personal computing era, hinting at Meta's determination to replicate that triumph in the emerging landscape of mixed reality.
This declaration from Zuckerberg comes on the heels of Apple's release of its first mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro, last June, signaling a direct challenge to Meta's Quest headsets. Meta, formerly Facebook, has invested substantial resources, amounting to tens of billions of dollars, into realizing its metaverse aspirations, as evidenced by the company's rebranding and strategic focus on products like the Quest headset.
The significance of this competition is underscored by Meta's imperative to diversify its revenue streams, particularly in the face of setbacks to its core advertising business precipitated by Apple's iOS privacy changes.
This clash between Meta and Apple encompasses various fronts, including app store policies and consumer privacy concerns, with recent criticism from Zuckerberg directed at Apple's proposed App Store policies in compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act.
In Zuckerberg's assessment, the Quest 3 emerges as the superior product, not merely in terms of value but across all metrics. Despite acknowledging Apple's Vision Pro's higher resolution screen, Zuckerberg highlighted the myriad trade-offs inherent in Apple's design decisions, citing Quest's superior comfort, ergonomics, and immersive content library as decisive factors favoring Meta's offering.
The Quest 3's affordability, priced at $500 compared to the Vision Pro's $3,499, coupled with its extensive content ecosystem and user-centric design, positions it as the frontrunner for Zuckerberg in capturing the vast array of mixed reality applications, from gaming to social interaction and beyond.
While Apple boasts over 600 apps and games developed for the Vision Pro, notable absences such as Spotify and Netflix native apps, as well as YouTube compatibility, underscore the lingering gaps in Apple's ecosystem compared to Meta's robust Quest app store, which reportedly houses over 1,000 apps and has generated over $2 billion in revenue from game and app sales.
Meta's Reality Labs division, responsible for augmented and virtual reality endeavors, recently crossed the $1 billion revenue threshold in Q4 2023, driven by robust holiday sales of its headsets. However, increased expenses, totaling $5.7 billion for the quarter, resulted in an operating loss of $4.6 billion, highlighting the significant investment required to maintain Meta's competitive edge in the rapidly evolving mixed reality landscape.
Zuckerberg's ambitious vision extends beyond hardware competition, as he expressed intentions to develop and open-source artificial general intelligence, underscoring Meta's broader aspirations to shape the future of technology on a global scale.
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