Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues his criticism of Apple’s mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro.
In a series of posts on Threads, the billionaire founder of Facebook exchanged messages with Benedict Evans, a partner at Mosaic Ventures, calling out the limitations of Apple’s VR headset, which in his view is a much worse device than Meta’s own Quest headset.
The conversation began when Evan made a post on Threads saying that he was “baffled” by Meta’s VR engineers claiming that the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro is “basically just the same” as the $500 Quest.
He noted that the Vision Pro is what Meta aims for the Quest to be in 3-5 years, while the Quest is selling at a price point that Apple wants to reach in the same period.
Zuck Says Quest is the Better Overall VR Device and Following Apple Methdods Would be Regressive
This prompted Zuckerberg to respond straight away, clarifying that the team did not mean to say both the devices were the same, but the Quest was much better overall.
He wrote that if Meta’s Quest were to weigh as much as the Vision Pro or have the same motion blur as the latest Apple device or the lack of precision inputs, “then that means we’ll have regressed significantly”.
Zuckerberg added that even though the Vision Pro has a higher resolution, many other tradeoffs make the mixed-reality headset worse than the Quest in most ways. “That’s not what we aspire to do,” he said.
To this, Evans replied with a reason as to why he thinks Apple went with a higher resolution for the Vision Pro.
He noted that the company believed the only way to gain traction is to start with a computer-like experience that is already found on smartphones and familiar to users, and without it, the device would simply be a gaming console.
However, he pointed out that it wasn’t clear how the Vision Pro would be better than the iPad for apps and if the VR gaming market could even get as big as the consoles.
Zuck and Evans continued their tread, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of the Vision Pro, before Zuckerberg ultimately stated that Apple’s decision to trade higher resolution for better ergonomics and motion blur wasn’t a “clear win” when the Quest also delivered a good resolution.
Quest is the Better Device and Offers Better Value to Users than the Vision Pro, Says Zuck
This is just the latest in the series of criticisms the Meta CEO has aimed at the Apple Vision Pro, since its launch in January. In an Instagram post made on February 14, Zuckerberg posted a video that was effectively a takedown of the mixed reality device.
He commented that before the Vision Pro launched, he expected the Quest to be the better value for most people “since it’s really good and like seven times less expensive” than Apple’s mixed reality headset.
After experiencing the Vision Pro first-hand, he doesn’t just think the Quest is the better value, but it’s the better product “period”.
In the video, he pointed out several areas where the Quest was better, such as the brighter screen, wider field of vision, more immersive content, fully wireless, no “blur”, and lightweight.
At a recently held company meeting, Zuck told Meta employees that Apple’s vision of a VR headset is not the one he wants.
Apple has sold more than 200,000 units of the Vision Pro since its launch two months ago. For comparison, Meta has sold only 20 million units of the Quest between its debut in 2019 and 2023.
However, the Vision Pro has been criticized by users for its lack of usability and comfort, which caused many customers to return their devices. Zuckerberg pointed out in his review that Meta’s Quest “is a lot more comfortable” and lighter than its chief rival.
He is convinced that Meta is on track to win against Apple in the race for building the ultimate mixed-reality headset.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Silicon Valley behemoth’s Reality Labs division, which is responsible for the R&D of Quest headsets, crossed $1 billion in revenue for the first time. Meta attributed this growth to Quest having a great holiday season.
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