Apple’s Vision Pro when it launches early next year could offer competitive threat to Meta’s Quest 3, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Apple, Inc. AAPL is widely expected to launch the first iteration of its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset early next year, and the tech giant has reportedly begun work on the next generation of its newest product.
Apple, Meta Look Past Current Headset Models: Apple’s focus, as it embarks on developing the second-gen Vision Pro, is to make the device comfortable to wear, said Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in the latest installment of his weekly “Power On” newsletter. Since the first headset was found to cause neck strain during testing, the company is aiming for a smaller one with a lighter design, he said.
Gurman also weighed in on what rival Meta Platforms, Inc. META is planning to do with its future virtual reality headsets. Meta’s focus will be to reduce prices of its future products, he said. Meta’s next MR headset Quest 3 is expected to launch this month with a starting price of $499 compared to Vision Pro’s starting price of $3,499. Meta’s latest headset, however is $200 more expensive than its previous iteration, the columnist noted.
Meta will likely bring the price down to the previous level of $300, which would help introduce mixed reality to a broader market, Gurman said. For next year, Meta is planning a cheaper mixed-reality headset that looks a lot like the Quest 3 but uses less costly components, he added.
To bring down the cost of the entry-level headset, Meta could stop bundling it with hand controllers and sell the latter as separate accessories, Gurman said. Alternatively, the company could enable users to operate the device with hand gestures, he added.
Meta will then reposition Quest 3 as its mid-tier offering and then bring out a high-end product to replace its failed Quest Pro, the columnist said.
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The Pros & Cons: Apple for its part thinks it has the superior product with a higher-resolution passthrough camera, a powerful M2 chip and sharper VR displays, Gurman said. The Apple leaker noted concerns over whether the Vision Pro, at its current price, is a must-have device.
Meta, Gurman said, thinks it has the better gaming ecosystem with lots of titles available for the Quest 3. In addition, the $500 price point should be appealing for mainstream shoppers, he said.
Meta Watching Apple’s Moves: “It’s hard to bet against Apple, and the Vision Pro may lead consumers to embrace mixed reality in a way they haven’t before,” the columnist said. Meta can afford to take a wait-and-see approach and adjust features based on what Apple ends up adding to the Vision Pro and on how the technology resonates with customers, he said.
According to Gurman, a source at Meta said, “We’re in the ‘afraid of Apple stage’” — similar to how the mobile-phone industry reacted before the iPhone’s release in 2007. The columnist noted that Meta has retooled its strategy to be more like Apple’s. Instead of pitching Quest 3 as a portal to the metaverse, the device is now marketed as a tool for gaming and productivity apps.
Gurman said Quest 3 has its merits, including being considerably faster and less cumbersome than its previous iteration and its elegant approach to mixed reality.
Apple ended Friday’s session up 1.48% at $177.49, according to Benzinga Pro data. Meta climbed 3.49% to $315.43.
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