Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly announced the launch of the company’s next major VR headset. In an interview with the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Zuckerberg said the device will be unveiled at the Meta’s Connect conference in October.
Zuckerberg described some of the new headset’s key features, most notably the ability to track your facial expressions and display them on your virtual avatar. He explained again that his focus is on using virtual reality as the ultimate expression of technology that brings people together, for example by facilitating eye contact in virtual reality.
“When you have a video call, you don’t really feel like you’re there with a person. What VR reveals to me is that it really reassures your brain that you are here,” he said.
These features are in line with previous disclosures and reports about Project Cambria, the VR headset project that Zuckerberg briefly discussed on last year’s Connect. Bloomberg recently published an article suggesting the headset would be called the Meta Quest Pro.
At the end of July, Meta announced that the base Quest 2 configuration (with 128GB of storage) would jump from $299 to $399, while the more expensive 256GB model would jump from $399 to $499.
And over the past few months, various industry analysts have said that Meta will not be able to sustain its practice of selling headsets at a loss, especially with a major competitor like Apple poised to enter the market.
So while we don’t know how much this new headset will cost, you can bet it will be a bit more expensive than the Quest 2 at the old or new price.