Meta Head Display Device Makes Its First Appearance, May Become Apple's Biggest Competitor

The launch of Apple Inc.'s headphone will undoubtedly be the biggest news in the mixed reality field this year. But Apple will not monopolize the market. MetaPlatforms Inc. is the current leader in the XR field, integrating augmented reality and virtual reality, and constantly updating its devices.

This will trigger a war between the two companies over headsets, which may be similar to the 15 year war between Apple and Google Android in the smartphone industry. The iPhone dominates the top of the market with higher prices and a closed ecosystem. Android dominates the low-end market with a more open platform.

With headsets, Apple will immediately occupy the high-end market - headsets priced over $2000- but Meta will still dominate the cheaper market. Meta may even benefit from Apple's help in popularizing XR, leveraging this influence to provide services to consumers who cannot afford top tier models.

This showdown will take place in the next few months, with Apple launching its head display on June 5th, while Meta plans to release its latest model in October. Although Apple's device is still in a confidential state, I have the opportunity to test Meta's upcoming model, Quest3.

I personally experienced the prototype version of the headphone display, trying to understand its comparison with Apple devices. And I also tried the interface, video perspective mode, software features, and game features of Quest3.

The device is codenamed Eureka and feels lighter and thinner than the existing Quest2 in 2020. The strap placed on its head seems to be stronger, and it uses fabric on the side instead of plastic from Quest2.

The current model MetaQuest2 was demonstrated in an event.

The front of the device is new. It's not a dull gray appearance, but rather three vertical pill shaped sensor areas in front.The left and right sensor areas each include a color video perspective camera (allowing you to see parts of the surrounding world) and a standard camera. This means it has two color cameras, while Quest2 only has non color cameras. The middle sensor area includes a depth sensor, which is the first design for Quest.

There are two tracking cameras on the front and bottom sides of the head display, and at the bottom there is a volume joystick and a roller for adjusting the IPD (distance between pupils) of the head display. This is a major improvement to Quest2, which requires you to remove the head display and manually move the VR display inside the device. The power button and USB-C port remain on the side of the head display.

The actual clarity and VR display feel in Quest3 are similar to those in Quest2- although there are rumors that the resolution is slightly higher. But there are two significant improvements:Hybrid reality video perspective and faster device performance.

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Overall,I am deeply impressed by Quest3's hybrid reality focus, greatly improved video perspective function, faster performance, and large content library.500Apple.Quest 3XR.

Mark GurmanMetaverseHub.