Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Meta’s much-anticipated Meta Quest Pro, a breakthrough device that promises to bring the physical and digital worlds closer.
At Meta Connect, the company revealed it is dropping the codename Project Cambria and has named its new headsets Meta Quest Pro.
First in a new line of advanced headsets, Meta Quest Pro is built to expand the possibilities of virtual and mixed reality. It can be pre-ordered on meta.com and is priced at $1,499 (AED5,505). The headsets will be available from October 25.
The pricing may appear steep compared to its $399 entry-level Quest 2, but it is much lower than commercial-use devices like Microsoft’s Hololens 2, which starts from $3,500.
The smaller and lighter headset will offer consumers a way to interact with virtual creations overlaid onto a full-colour view of the physical world around them.
High-resolution outward-facing cameras capture four times as many pixels as Meta Quest 2, making it the company’s first full-colour mixed reality device. The pancake lenses fold light over several times, reducing the headset size while showing sharper visuals. A new, curved battery on the back helps make Meta Quest Pro more balanced and ergonomic.
As was the chatter throughout the last few months, it will also be the first headset that integrates inward-facing sensors to capture natural facial expressions and eye tracking. If the person wearing the headset smiles, their avatar will do the same.
Zuckerberg, in his speech recorded partially in video and partially as an avatar, said he expects the blending of the physical and digital worlds to give rise to new uses for computing, and added: “You’re going to see entirely new categories of things getting built.”
In a blog, Meta commented: “We believe VR devices will help usher in the next computing platform – becoming as ubiquitous as laptops and tablets are today – and that people will use them in their everyday lives to access the metaverse. With its cutting-edge technologies, Meta Quest Pro represents an important step toward that future.”
To ensure that productivity is at the heart of Meta Quest Pro and the headset is used as a tool for work, Meta focused on creating and supporting software that improves its work functions.
This includes a new partnership with Microsoft that will bring powerful new work and productivity tools to Meta Quest Pro next year. Users will be able to work with apps for Microsoft Windows 365 and Microsoft Teams and have the ability to join a Teams meeting from inside Meta Horizon Workrooms.
The company is still working on a mixed reality experience for its Horizon Workrooms app that would make a person’s avatar appear to be present in a real-world conference room with other users, which it is calling Magic Rooms, added Reuters. It is also planning to add legs to its avatars, which are currently displayed from the waist up.
The company is planning to bring the next generation of Meta Avatars – which will be more expressive and detailed – to video chat, starting in Messenger and WhatsApp.
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