Meta Platforms has announced plans to launch its new, more consumer-focused Quest 3 device later in the year, featuring its Meta Reality platform.
News reports revealed that the Meta Reality platform will shift virtual reality headsets to augmented reality seamlessly.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Chief Executive and Founder, revealed in his earnings call on Wednesday that the new device would release in late 2023. It is expected to cost from $300 USD to $500 USD, he added.
Speaking further on the new system, Zuckerberg added that his company aimed to “deliver better social experiences than what’s possible on phones.”
He explained,
“The value of MR is that you can experience the immersion and presence of VR while still being grounded in the physical world around you. We’re already seeing developers build out some impressive new experiences like Nanome for 3D modeling molecules and drug development, Arkio for architects and designers to create interiors, and of course a lot of great games. The MR ecosystem is relatively new, but I think it’s going to grow a lot in the next few years.
He added that Meta would launch its next-generation consumer headset featuring the new Meta Reality system. Zuckerberg expects the device will “establish this technology as the baseline for all headsets [and] for AR glasses as well.”
Meta’s Quest 3 Plans, Markets Plummets across Big Tech
The news on Meta’s new Quest 3 headset follows its fourth quarter (Q4) results, where it unveiled its earnings and upcoming plans for its products and services. While its overall profits stood four percent lower year-on-year, its stocks soared 20 percent due to better-than-expected earnings per share (EPS).
The Menlo Park-based company stated it plans to streamline its operations while still delivering on its family of apps (FoA), which include Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Regarding plans for the Metaverse, it still aims to develop its social media and hyperrealistic enterprise avatar technologies. These will integrate across its FoA and headset devices such as the Quest 2, Quest Pro, and upcoming Quest 3.
The firm’s current and future product lineups will allow it to remain competitive in an increasingly expanding market. This comes amid the release of the HTC VIVE XR Elite, Pico 4 Enterprise, Lenovo VRX, and other midrange MR headsets. Meta hopes to balance its metaverse tech ambitions with maintaining profitability amid the ongoing tech crisis.
Many big tech firms such as Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon have reported major EPS misses, leading to a major economic downturn and a 2 percent fall on the Nasdaq stock market. Also, contributing factors include additional federal interest rate hikes planned in the future.
Their stocks tumbled on Friday at 0.8 percent, 4 percent, and 5 percent, respectively.
Meta-Within Unlimited Deal Passes
Furthermore, courts will allow Meta Platforms to acquire VR firm Within Unlimited, news reports found on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The news comes as a blow to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which could appeal the ruling and apply in-house protocols against the buyout, CNBC reported at the time. The organisation filed an injunction to block the deal on Wednesday until courts could rule on the anticompetitive case.
The FTC filed a lawsuit against the company merger in July last year while criticising Meta as buying out competitors. At the time, a Meta spokesperson explained that the case was “based on ideology and speculation, not evidence.”
It concluded: “The idea that this acquisition would lead to anticompetitive outcomes in a dynamic space with as much entry and growth as online and connected fitness is simply not credible.”
