Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and Founder, and recently-appointed Vice President of Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Andrew Bosworth, posted photos with prototype VR headsets on Wednesday.
The headsets appear to be concept models and not for commercial sale, and the two high-level executives released the photos amid rumours of a Quest Pro and the social media giant’s transition to a Metaverse firm, indicating the prototypes are part of its future plans.
Proud of the research Michael Abrash’s team is working on at FRL-R Redmond—excited to get an early look at some of the technologies that will underpin the metaverse (we work on several prototype headsets to prove out concepts, this is one of them. Kind of. It’s a long story.) pic.twitter.com/Yi9xjy5HmG
— Boz (@boztank) October 13, 2021
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg revealed he had visited Facebook’s Reality Labs research centre in Redmond, Washington to demo an “early retina resolution prototype” and later hinted the firm was working on “augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) tech.”
The developments follow the Menlo Park-based firm’s partnership with Ray-Ban to produce a pair of luxury AR sunglasses.
At this year’s VRARA Global European Summit, Jack McCauley, former Oculus Co-Founder and Engineer described the partnership as:
“A beginning for them […] The Rayban Glasses, that’s a great idea that has legs. The team at Seattle, with their vast experience, will be able to make that work”
Facebook Connect 2021
The developments come as Mark Zuckerberg is set to address the firm’s transition as a Metaverse company at the upcoming Facebook 2021 Connect Event on October 28.
Additionally, the event will feature sessions from John Carmack, Oculus VR Chief Technology Officer, and other key Oculus developers.
Facebook is also rebranding its VR collaboration platform as Horizon Worlds and announced a $10 million USD fund to encourage independent VR developers to design content for its new virtual space.
Between Zuckerberg’s headsets demo and Horizon’s rebranding efforts, the social media giant continues to tease its audiences as it approaches the upcoming virtual event.
