Published on: 12/10/2022
Meta announces $1,500 Quest Pro VR headset
CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Quest Pro at Meta Connect 2022 on Tuesday. The new virtual reality device is another attempt from Zuckerberg to encourage professionals to help build an immersive digital future.
The headset will be available starting October 15 at the price of $1,500, three times the cost of Quest 2. The company has shifted its target to working professionals and wants to change the belief that VR is only for gamers.
“It’s work-focused,” Zuckerberg said. “The ideal customers for this [are] gonna be either people who just want the highest-end VR device—so enthusiasts, prosumer type folks — or people who are trying to get work done.”
Quest Pro’s specs, features
Quest Pro offers new features designed for working individuals. The face and eye tracking feature will make conversations in VR feel more personal. The “full-color mixed reality experience” allows users to see the real world while immersed in marvelous graphics. Quest 2 has a similar feature but only shows things in black and white.
Users can also adjust how much light Quest Pro should block out. By default, there will be a bit of peripheral vision and some space underneath the eyes, but additional magnetic rubber blinders or even a magnetic full-face rig can close the gap.
Weighing 722 grams, Quest Pro uses Snapdragon XR2-Plus as the processor. It has 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Its 1800×1920 pixels-per-eye screen allows a 90Hz refresh rate at maximum.
Quest Pro is equipped with built-in rechargeable batteries and can be charged on a charging dock that holds both the headset and the chargers. The device lasts for 1-2 hours before requiring a recharge. Meta claims the device can fully charge within 2 hours.
Meta will also launch “self-tracking” controllers. This device will have built-in sensors to “track [users’] position in 3D space independent of the headset.”
Zuckerberg’s vision
Quest Pro is just one part of Meta’s bigger plan to develop the metaverse. Zuckerberg wants the metaverse to be an integral part of daily life. In order to reach this vision, Meta has sunk tens of billions of dollars into the Reality Labs division.
Meta currently promotes Quest Pro to people who work remotely. The company works with Microsoft to include Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 office-productivity software on Quest Pro.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made an appearance on Tuesday to announce the company’s partnership with Meta. Promoting the new device, he said they were “going through a once-in-a-lifetime change in how we work.”
Many doubt Zuckerberg’s vision, causing Meta’s shares to drop more than 60 percent this year. Recently, the internet mocked Zuckerberg’s Meta avatar that he posted on his Facebook page. They pointed out how amateurish his avatar looked, which caused him to remake the photo, adding more details to his avatar.
On Tuesday, Zuckerberg showed a new, legged version of the avatar. Previously, people mocked the avatar for not having legs, calling it “floating cartoon torsos.”
Meta is also working on a wristband that can detect neurological signals. Zuckerberg said the device would use one of its users’ hands as a remote control.
“I think in the future people will use this to control their phones and computers and all this other stuff,” Zuckerberg said. “You’ll just have a little band around your wrist.”
