Meta cancels its Apple Vision Pro helmet enemy.

Meta Quest Pro
Last updated 11 hours agoMeta’s chief technology officer confirmed reports that the firm is abandoning plans to compete with Apple Vision Pro using a similar powerful device. Meta “leaked”, just before the Apple Vision Pro announcement, its four-year plan to develop virtual and mixed reality headsets. The development of La Jolla – internally known as “The Plan” – was a key part of the plan. It was likely to be known as the closest competitor of Apple Vision Pro. The Information first reported that Meta had begun development work in November of 2023. However, the project was cancelled around mid-August of 2024. The decision was reportedly made during a Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth and other attendees of a product review. Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, responded to the report with a thread on Threads. He did not acknowledge the publication directly. “Just your regular public service announcement: We have many prototypes under development at all time,” he said. “But we don’t bring all of these to production.” He continued, “We pass on some and move forward with others.” “Decisions of this nature are made all the time. Stories based on a single decision will never tell the whole story.” Meta continues to work on other headsets, and that’s a fact. It appears that Meta has dropped its Apple Vision Pro rival, codenamed La Jolla. This could be due to cost issues. The $3,500 Apple Vision Pro is yet to be a huge success. Meta reportedly wanted to keep the La Jolla headset’s price under $1,000. This was simply not possible. La Jolla was believed to have used micro OLED screens, just like Apple Vision Pro. The cost of the displays alone, while not known specifically, is likely to be a factor. Meta has unspecified sources who said that the La Jolla head-set could be revived. The technology developed for the headset, such as gaze-tracking, will be used in other products. Meta has not announced the cancellation of this project but, as the Meta Quest Pro failure demonstrated, it does not tend to do so.