Ahead-looking: As Meta’s metaverse division, Actuality Labs, threw one other few billion {dollars} into the furnace final quarter, the corporate presses ahead with VR merchandise. These embody the subsequent Meta Quest headset, set to succeed the favored Meta Quest 2 when it launches later this yr.

Meta’s This fall 2022 earnings name included new details about the corporate’s subsequent VR headset. Prone to be referred to as the Meta Quest 3, Meta needs the system to be a comparatively accessible automobile for its blended actuality ambitions.

Firm CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that the Quest 3 would incorporate Meta Actuality, the corporate’s expertise that makes VR headsets able to augmented actuality, making them blended actuality headsets. The $1,500 Meta Quest Professional, which Meta launched final October, consists of it as a main characteristic.

When Meta debuted the Quest Professional, Zuckerberg confirmed that the corporate goals to launch the Quest 3 in late 2023 for a worth between $300 and $500. Meta presently gives the Quest 2 at $400, giving it a large worth benefit over choices from firms like HTC and Valve that price over a grand. Conserving the Quest 3 at the same price may increase Meta Actuality’s attain.

A leak from final September urged that the Quest 3 options depth-sensing, two black-and-white cameras, and two RGB cameras, presumably to show the consumer’s environment and ship an augmented actuality expertise. The Quest 2’s exterior cameras solely transmit a rudimentary black-and-white video passthrough feed. The leak additionally talked about a Snapdragon SoC, 2 LCDs, skinny pancake lenses, mechanical IPD changes, a pogo pin connector for a charging dock, and a strap much like the Quest 2’s.

Oddly, the Quest 3 is not going to embody eye monitoring, a characteristic touted by VR-space competitor Sony in its $500 PlayStation VR 2 headset. Eye monitoring lets the twin shows detect exactly the place a consumer is trying and use that info to prioritize pixel rendering, thus saving valuable graphics processing cycles.

Zuckerberg expressed optimism that Meta Actuality would develop within the coming years. The sentiment mirrors his insistence that VR and the Metaverse are a worthwhile long-term funding, even after his firm’s Metaverse division misplaced $14 billion in 2022. Meta expects to lose much more cash in 2023 because it continues to push its ambitions.