Meta’s big push into the metaverse may already be slowing down significantly. According to a report from The Information, Meta has a limited supply of material for VR/AR headsets and will only produce devices as long as it has the capacity.
In particular, that means the death of the Quest Pro, despite being less than a year old. A potential Quest Pro 2 seems to be off the table.
Though the Quest Pro was the first of its kind, it didn’t land with reviewers as well as Meta may have hoped. It was an expensive device for what was clearly an early adopter-only product.
Meta’s change in direction comes not long after Apple announced its Apple Vision Pro, which is significantly more expensive at $3,500. However, Apple’s VR headset has some time before its 2024 launch, and it remains to be seen whether it will live up to its exciting promises.
Meanwhile, upon launch, the Meta Quest Pro faced considerable criticism, including notes on its excessive weight, awkward fit, cheap materials, and underperforming software. Many felt it was not worth its $1,500 price tag, and Meta even dropped its price to $1,000.
In time, we’ll see if Meta plans to reintroduce the Meta Quest Pro after observing the reception of Apple’s Vision Pro. Notably, Meta previously faded out its metaverse plans in favor of artificial intelligence and has more recently been busy launching the Threads social media platform to compete with Twitter.
The Quest 3 is still due out later this year, so Meta hasn’t given up on VR entirely. However, for now, high-end mixed-reality headsets are no longer of interest to the company.
