What’s in store for Meta’s Quest 3 Headsets?
Key Insights:
- Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta’s upcoming Meta Quest 3 will be affordable
- Expected to launch later this year, some speculate the mixed reality headset might coincide with the release of Apple’s own headsets
- Despite its VR push, Meta’s Reality Labs experienced heavy losses in its first quarter
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed in a recent earnings call that the Quest 3 will come “at a price point that will be accessible for lots of people.”
“We launched Quest 2 almost three years ago at this point. It was a very big step forward for VR, and I'm really excited to show the world all the improvements and new technology that we have developed since then,” he added.
Launching this year, there has been speculation that Quest 3 will follow the price range of its predecessor Oculus Quest 2, currently priced at $399.99 for the base 128GB model, and $429.99 for the 256GB model.
With a predicted late 2023 release, some also speculate Quest 3’s launch to coincide with the release of Apple’s first-ever mixed reality headset, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has been hoping to drop this year.
Meta Reality Labs Take Blow for Q1
Meta’s recent investor call revealed that its VR venture is still far from profitable.
In the most recent quarter, Meta’s Reality Labs – the wing responsible for developing the company’s mixed reality headsets – earned an estimated $339 million in revenue but experienced losses of about $4 billion.
However, the company experienced some wins with its VR efforts, with more than a billion Meta avatars now created, according to the CEO. Zuckerberg also shared that the number of titles in the Quest store with at least $25 million in revenue has doubled, and more than half of Quest’s daily users spend more than an hour using the device.
This is a crucial moment for Meta and all VR development companies. Their collective decisions on pricing, technology, and user engagement strategies in the coming months could set the stage for mass adoption of VR.
The Meta CEO expressed his optimism about the company’s push with AI and the metaverse. “We're seeing good momentum in our products and business. We have incredibly exciting opportunities ahead in our Family of Apps, AI, and the metaverse. I'm confident that our efficiency work will improve our ability to execute on all of this,” he shared.
Additionally, things are looking up for the tech giant in other departments, as its first-quarter sales rose 3% from $27.91 billion last year, breaking its three-quarter streak of revenue decline.
Meta is also expecting revenue of $29.5 billion and $32 billion, while analysts predict it will earn $29.5 billion.
Will you be buying the Meta Quest 3 Headsets? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Instagram?
-author-avatar_thumbnail.jpg){kind=avatar}