Meta reportedly working with LG on new Quest Professional

A Korean information report suggests Meta is partnering with LG to launch a successor to its high-end Quest Professional digital actuality headset in 2025. As noticed by UploadVR, Maeil Enterprise Newspaper writes that Meta has struck a deal for a three way partnership with LG. The ensuing headset is rumored to be priced at round $2,000 and use LG shows, in addition to different elements from LG subsidiaries like LG Innotek. Maeil Enterprise Newspaper moreover claims Meta will launch a low-end Quest headset in 2024 that might value underneath $200.

Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Verge, and a number of the particulars of the report appear unintuitive. $200 can be a serious value drop for the patron Quest; the Quest 2 sells for $299 after Meta briefly tried to increase the worth, and the upcoming Quest 3 was introduced at $499. The report additionally says the brand new high-end headset might be known as the “Meta Quest 4 Professional,” which might break Meta’s present conference of preserving the Quest and Quest Professional lineup numbering separate.

Total, nonetheless, the report tracks roughly with Meta’s previous conduct within the VR area. Though $200 can be very low-cost, The Verge has beforehand reported that an inexpensive headset codenamed Ventura is certainly deliberate for 2024, with a Quest Professional successor probably after that. And as UploadVR notes, Meta (previously Fb) has launched a number of headsets as joint-branded merchandise. The Oculus Rift S bore Lenovo branding, the low-end Oculus Go was manufactured by Xiaomi, and Samsung made the cell Gear VR.

That mentioned, it’s value declaring that none of those had been thought of essentially the most thrilling Meta/Fb headsets on the time of their launch, which is opposite to how Meta has positioned the Quest Professional. The Rift S was Meta’s ultimate wired-only headset earlier than it targeted solely on the all-in-one Quest lineup, the Go was a low-end Rift and Quest various, and the Gear VR was a super-cheap various to the then-cutting-edge Rift. (A counter-example could also be Meta’s high-profile partnership with Ray-Ban on good glasses, however Meta additionally described that as an early foray into augmented actuality.) Meta has portrayed the Professional as a testing floor for progressive VR tech that may come extra slowly to its cheaper mass-market merchandise. An LG three way partnership may keep that position, however provided that it appears to be like slightly completely different from a few of these previous partnerships.