Meta insists it hasn't killed off its Quest Pro lineup yet

AppleInsider

Meta isn't giving up on creating a potential rival to the Apple Vision Pro, with its CTO warning that reports of the Quest Pro 2's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Meta Quest Pro

A July 19 report about the development of displays for a future Meta headset included a detail that the social giant has stopped acquiring more components for the Quest Pro. The report also alleged that the Pro line of headsets has also been suspended, effectively killing the prospect of a Quest Pro 2.

In a now-expired response via Instagram Stories as spotted by Road to VR, Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth insists that there's a lot more to the story. Bosworth further implies that the claims of the ending of the Quest Pro 2 may have been sourced from an employee affected after a project was cut.

"I have to explain this every year. There is no Quest Pro 2 headset until we decide there is," explains Bosworth.

"What I mean by that is there are lots of prototype headsets - lots of them - all in development in parallel. Some of them, we say that's not the right one,' and we shut it down. Some of them, we say that's the right one,' and we spin it up."

He continues by saying that no headset gets the name until it goes out the door, before acting coy about its existence.

"There might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I'm not really telling you, but I will say don't believe everything you read about what's been stopped or started," he declares. "A lot of times it comes from someone who's unhappy their particular project got cut when there are other projects that did not get cut."

Reporting from July 19 wrote that Meta's expectations for a new high-grade headset would involve an internal-only demonstration AR headset codenamed Orion, due in 2024. A public AR headset due in 2027 going by "Artemis" is apparently receiving cutbacks on components, such as a switch to glass instead of silicon carbide.

The change would apparently reduce the field of view of the headset to around 50 degrees for the glass version, rather than 70 degrees for silicon carbide-based editions. Meanwhile, main Quest Pro competitor Apple Vision Pro has a field of view of 120 degrees.

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tht

WTF is this Facebook executive doing? His only response should be silence or “We don’t talk about future products.”

Xed

You know you're doomed when you have to play catch up to a product that isn't even out yet from a company that has never had a product in that category.

Meta may be able to carve out a decent low-end option like Android has for tablets, but they'll have to have some really special HW and SW working perfectly together to be the company people look to over Apple.

Kierkegaarden

“I have to explain this every year.”  — every year?  How long has their “pro” device been out, and has anyone heard him comment on it before?

”There might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be.  I’m not really telling you,” — real professional response, huh?

This guy sounds frustrated, or incredibly embarrassed after seeing what Apple announced.  This is someone who heads up the hardware at Meta, burning through tens of billions, had a head start on Apple by almost 10 years, and realizes that Apple will destroy their business.  It will be a slow death — less hardware sales, fewer and fewer apps, more and more billions lost until Mark pulls the plug to appease shareholders.  They will probably end up selling the hardware business to another company — the question is, who would buy it? 

coolfactor

My neck hurts looking at people wearing the Quest Pro headset. Why do they appear to be looking downward?

danox

Stick a fork in them they’re done, just a matter of time…….

BiCC

Xed said:

You know you're doomed when you have to play catch up to a product that isn't even out yet from a company that has never had a product in that category.

Meta may be able to carve out a decent low-end option like Android has for tablets, but they'll have to have some really special HW and SW working perfectly together to be the company people look to over Apple.

I think you are going easy on Meta.  But that is just me.  This is a real Question - Why does a company change their entire Name.  Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo, DeWalt, Ford, Kraft, Walmart, Costco,  Appleinsider, the list is endless, they never changed. Facebook and Google changed names.  I still don't know a friend that changed names, marriage doesn't count. I'm throwing it out there - Deep State.

mjtomlin

BiCC said:

Xed said:

You know you're doomed when you have to play catch up to a product that isn't even out yet from a company that has never had a product in that category.

Meta may be able to carve out a decent low-end option like Android has for tablets, but they'll have to have some really special HW and SW working perfectly together to be the company people look to over Apple.

I think you are going easy on Meta.  But that is just me.  This is a real Question - Why does a company change their entire Name.  Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo, DeWalt, Ford, Kraft, Walmart, Costco,  Appleinsider, the list is endless, they never changed. Facebook and Google changed names.  I still don't know a friend that changed names, marriage doesn't count. I'm throwing it out there - Deep State.

To change the narrative. Usually from something that's nefarious to something that's benign. It allows these companies to distance "projects" away from a their "core." Both Google and Facebook have monopoly-related issues that affect their core business. And Facebook in particular has a real issue with public perception.

Xed

BiCC said:

Xed said:

You know you're doomed when you have to play catch up to a product that isn't even out yet from a company that has never had a product in that category.

Meta may be able to carve out a decent low-end option like Android has for tablets, but they'll have to have some really special HW and SW working perfectly together to be the company people look to over Apple.

I think you are going easy on Meta.  But that is just me.  This is a real Question - Why does a company change their entire Name.  Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo, DeWalt, Ford, Kraft, Walmart, Costco,  Appleinsider, the list is endless, they never changed. Facebook and Google changed names.  I still don't know a friend that changed names, marriage doesn't count. I'm throwing it out there - Deep State.

Let's keep in mind that Apple, Inc. has also changed their name from Apple Computer, Inc because their business model was not longer primarily focused on the traditional computer, which is what people tend to associate with the word computer.

Facebook and Google also hanged their names to be more inclusive to their ever increasing business strategies, over a single product offering. Google is more clear with Alphabet easily referencing their large number of ventures starting with different letters of the alphabet, but I'd also say that Facebook is pretty clear since calling a VR device a Facebook product is limiting. Additionally, changing the name of the product from what it was purchased as to something new for the company is commonplace. Apple usually does this after an acquisition, with Siri being a notable exemption.

But sometimes we do see this when a product fails so badly that even the name will hurt future sales. And sometimes it's just very long in the tooth, like with iTunes.

libertyandfree

mjtomlin said:

BiCC said:

Xed said:

You know you're doomed when you have to play catch up to a product that isn't even out yet from a company that has never had a product in that category.

Meta may be able to carve out a decent low-end option like Android has for tablets, but they'll have to have some really special HW and SW working perfectly together to be the company people look to over Apple.

I think you are going easy on Meta.  But that is just me.  This is a real Question - Why does a company change their entire Name.  Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo, DeWalt, Ford, Kraft, Walmart, Costco,  Appleinsider, the list is endless, they never changed. Facebook and Google changed names.  I still don't know a friend that changed names, marriage doesn't count. I'm throwing it out there - Deep State.

To change the narrative. Usually from something that's nefarious to something that's benign. It allows these companies to distance "projects" away from a their "core." Both Google and Facebook have monopoly-related issues that affect their core business. And Facebook in particular has a real issue with public perception.

 The name Facebook had become a pejorative but to change it to Meta was a really bad move. Kinda like google renaming themself alphabet (still do not understand that harebrained move which apparently didn’t work since everyone still calls them google - brilliant fail).  I think calling themselves Meta was an arrogant move which is now also becoming a pejorative.   Unfortunately for Facebook, they are stuck with a totally nerdy, kinda creepy, 100% uncool CEO and everything they do will be harmed by this image.  In other words, Zuckerberg is really bad PR for Facebook and there is no getting around that no matter how many times they change their name.  

badmonk

Kierkegaarden said:

“I have to explain this every year.”  — every year?  How long has their “pro” device been out, and has anyone heard him comment on it before?

”There might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be.  I’m not really telling you,” — real professional response, huh?

This guy sounds frustrated, or incredibly embarrassed after seeing what Apple announced.  This is someone who heads up the hardware at Meta, burning through tens of billions, had a head start on Apple by almost 10 years, and realizes that Apple will destroy their business.  It will be a slow death — less hardware sales, fewer and fewer apps, more and more billions lost until Mark pulls the plug to appease shareholders.  They will probably end up selling the hardware business to another company — the question is, who would buy it? 

Agree and after I read the article I am more and more convinced they are “Dead Man Walking.”

KITA

AppleInsider said:

 Meanwhile, main Quest Pro competitor Apple Vision Pro has a field of view of 120 degrees.

Do you have a source for the 120 degrees field of view? I've read a number of journalist hands-on that claim it's only around 100 degrees.

An Apple Developer video also showed only ~100 degrees:

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10073/

At 3:20:



For reference, the Quest Pro has a 106 degree FOV.

danox

Kierkegaarden said:

“I have to explain this every year.”  — every year?  How long has their “pro” device been out, and has anyone heard him comment on it before?

”There might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be.  I’m not really telling you,” — real professional response, huh?

This guy sounds frustrated, or incredibly embarrassed after seeing what Apple announced.  This is someone who heads up the hardware at Meta, burning through tens of billions, had a head start on Apple by almost 10 years, and realizes that Apple will destroy their business.  It will be a slow death — less hardware sales, fewer and fewer apps, more and more billions lost until Mark pulls the plug to appease shareholders.  They will probably end up selling the hardware business to another company — the question is, who would buy it? 

 One of the other three stooges Google, Microsoft, Amazon each of them like to over pay for acquisitions………