Over the weekend, reports hit the airwaves claiming that Meta is cancelling a prototype for an upcoming Apple Vision Pro competitor, with speculation forecasting the discontinuation of an upcoming Quest Pro 2-esc prototype model called ‘La Jolla.’
According to insiders, the La Jolla prototype, initially planned for release in the coming years, used similar display technology in the Apple Vision Pro to offer an alternative to the breakout device. However, Meta cancelled La Jolla due to the cost of the competitive OLED display technology.
Despite reports indicating a grim device forecast ahead of Meta C0nnect 2024, not all is lost for Mark Zuckerberg’s firm. Most recently, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth shed some light on the situation and the state of the Meta’s XR device R&D.
In a social media post, Bosworth noted that the report prototype cancellation shouldn’t worry fans of the Quest portfolio. He stated:
Just your regularly scheduled public service announcement: we have many prototypes in development at all times. But we don’t bring all of them to production. We move forward with some, we pass on others. Decisions like this happen all the time, and stories based on chatter about one individual decision will never give the real picture.
Meta’s XR R&D teams assess new ways to develop AR/VR/MR hardware and software for various use cases via its Reality Labs division. Year after year, the Reality Labs division operates at a loss; most recently, in its Q2 report, Meta noted how it will continue to experience increasing operating losses year over year due to XR product research and development cycles.
This means Zuckerberg has immense faith and resources to pay for Reality Labs to develop future technology, placing Meta in front of others on the eve of Zuckerberg’s perceived XR future.
It is safe to say that the La Jolla cancellation shouldn’t profoundly affect Meta’s upcoming Connect 2024 event and its XR updates. So far, Meta is expected to reveal the Meta Quest 3s, a lower-price MR headset, and a pair of AR smart glasses.
With its expected AR smart glasses reveal, Meta is looking to follow up on its recent success with the Ray-Ban Meta lineup. Earlier this year, the Ray-Ban product smashed sales expectations, leading to Meta eyeing up a five per cent stake purchase in Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica, worth $4.73 billion based on an overall company valuation of over $94 billion.
Moreover, at SIGGRAPH 2024, Zuckerberg said, “When we think about the next computing platform, we break it down into mixed reality, the headsets, and the smart glasses.” Zuckerberg also noted that smart glasses are easier for general audiences to understand than headsets “because pretty much everyone wearing a pair of glasses today will get upgraded to smart glasses. That’s like more than a billion people in the world.”
AR Smart Glasses Poised to Overtake VR Headsets
Meta’s move towards lightweight, affordable MR headsets and AR smartglasses comes as the consumer also seems to pine for such devices. According to a recent report by ResearchAndMarkets, the global smart glasses market reached approximately 678,600 units in 2023.
The report expects the market to grow significantly to 13 million units by 2030, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 53.0% from 2023 to 2030. In the US, the smart glasses market expanded to about 432,300 units in 2023, with further growth expected.
ResearchAndMarkets also anticipates market growth in China, projecting 613,300 unit shipments by 2030 with a 62.5% CAGR.
Additionally, the report examines other hardware considerations such as “simple assisted reality glasses,” projected to reach 5 million units by 2030 with a CAGR of 50.3%, and MR holographic displays like Apple’s Vision Pro, expected to grow at a 58.4% CAGR until 2030.
