What you need to know
- Mark Zuckerberg announced on the Joe Rogan podcast that Meta's next VR headset would debut in October.
- More details will be revealed at Meta's annual Connect conference in early October.
- The Meta Quest Pro is rumored to retail for $799 or higher and feature advanced features like eye and face tracking, and a much smaller form factor than the Quest 2.
After more than a year of leaks, rumors, and the slow official trickle of information from Meta, we finally know the official release date of Meta's next upcoming headset.
On the August 25 Joe Rogan podcast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Meta's next big device is coming out this October, leaving only the imagination to guess what that headset is. Given everything Meta has said over the course of 2022, we're extremely confident that the new headset is Project Cambria, potentially known as the Oculus Quest Pro, but Zuckerberg was careful not to give it an actual name just yet.
In the episode, Zuckerberg talked a lot about what Meta is doing now and plans to do in the future, and described the upcoming headset as one that can give players the added presence of eye contact and face tracking. That would mean players could see when other players are actually looking at them — one of the key pillars to making social VR more realistic — and you'll even be able to see facial expressions like smiling or frowning.
Everything we know tells us that Project Cambria, Meta Quest Pro, or whatever it's going to be called will include these key features. Zuckerberg further stated that we'll be hearing more about the new headset at Meta's upcoming Connect conference in early October.
VR analyst Brad Lynch estimates that we'll see the new headset on or around October 25, so that gives Meta a few weeks between the official announcement and the release if it pans out. That would mean that Meta will beat Sony to the punch in releasing a next-generation VR headset, as the PS VR2 won't be coming until early 2023.
Meta's "Chromebook for your face" isn't just being made for gamers wanting higher-fidelity visuals, though, as is evidenced by the rumored $799+ price point. Given that Meta just increased the price of the Quest 2, there's little doubt that a significantly more powerful and advanced VR headset from the company would cost more than the $500 price the Quest 2 tops out at.
Meta also recently dropped the requirement to use a Facebook account on its VR headsets, instead, replacing them with Meta accounts. These new accounts are mostly used for transactions and content libraries rather than being a one-size-fits-all social media account as the company used previously.
Project Cambria is coming, but we know it'll be a lot more expensive than the Quest 2. If the potential $800+ price tag doesn't sound good to you, the Quest 2 is half of that and offers a library of thousands of amazing VR games.
