Meta CEO Calls New Apple Vision Pro Headset Expensive but Not Metaverse

Meta CEO Mark Zucerberg, is on Quest 3 (photo: Instagram @Zuck)

JAKARTA - Apple recently announced a mixed reality (MR) headset, Vision Pro. But Meta CEO Mark Zucerberg, who also launched the Quest 3 before, said he wasn't blown away by the rival.

Meta itself released Quest 3 as a way to tease and take the Vision Pro market. The price of Apple's headset is very expensive, which is priced at USD 3.500 or the equivalent of Rp. 52 million. By using a higher resolution screen than its competitors.

Vision Pro will deliver 23 million pixels across two screens, more than a 4K TV. However, with a high-end display and all the technology they use, Zuckerberg stated that the price is seven times more expensive than the Quest 3, which is only IDR 7 million.

"It takes so much energy that now you need a battery and cables attached to it to use it. They made that design compromise and it probably makes sense for the case they're going for," Zuckerberg told employees in a meeting yesterday that The Verge became aware of, quoted Friday, June 9.

“We innovate to ensure that our products are accessible and affordable to everyone, and that is a core part of what we do. And we've sold tens of millions of missions," he added.

Apart from the price, Zuckerberg also revealed that Apple's headset is far from the word metaverse, which is basically interactive or social.

"It's about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways. Our devices are also about being active and doing things," said Zuckerberg.

"On the other hand, every demo they show is someone who sits on his own sofa. I mean, it can be a computational vision, but like, that's not what I want. There are real philosophical differences in how we approach this," he added.

The father of three emphasized that, far from Apple's headset, Quest is a device that helps people interact in new ways and become active.

Zuckerberg said Quest is offering a better future of computing, he is deeply concerned about Apple seeing how virtual reality spaces are, at least at one point.

Many assume that Zuckerberg only feels his product is far less than Apple has, and maybe Vision Pro is everything he wants from Quest Pro.

In Vision Pro, there will be a detailed avatar that will be used by headsets to make video calls or FaceTime, as reported by Slashgear. The innovation is similar to something Meta teased a few years ago but has not been produced to date.