Meta could topple Apple’s Vision Pro headset - with a cheaper device and no controllers

(Image credit: Meta)

With the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality headset releasing tomorrow (and our full Meta Quest 3 review out today), it seems like Meta is looking to follow in Apple’s footsteps with the Apple Vision Pro. In a race to dominate the VR scene, Meta may have course-corrected earlier marketing and design plans for its follow-up headset (currently codenamed Ventura - a slightly ironic name…) in response to the Vision Pro, possibly even removing the headset controllers to reduce costs.

According to Mark Gurman via his Power One newsletter, a person within Meta suggested that Meta “is in the ‘afraid of Apple stage’” and that Meta is investing a lot of time and effort to improve its VR products as well as shifting focus away from the metaverse.

The Verge notes that Meta’s big goal with the Ventura headset is to cut costs as much as possible and offer a lower asking price for a good headset. The Quest 3 is already much cheaper than the Vision Pro, and according to Gurman Meta may be ditching controller bundling to help cut down the price even further for its next headset.

Does Meta have the right idea?

Gurman suggests that users will be able to decide to use just hand gestures or purchase the controllers separately. For comparison, Apple’s headset doesn’t actually come with dedicated controllers - it relies solely on gesture controls tracked via its external cameras, although you can always connect a third-party controller or another Apple device (like a MacBook Air) for control input.

If you can throw yourself back in time a little and remember the original reveal of the Apple Vision Pro, you’ll probably remember thinking “surely they’re not charging that much for the headset?!”

So, the fact that Meta is prioritizing affordability with the Quest 3 is a smart move to get ahead of the curve. If the company is able to make the Ventura headset (Quest 4? Quest Neo? Who knows) massively more affordable than the Vision Pro - and ensure that it can perform competitively against Apple's offering - then Meta actually has a very good shot at securing the top spot in the VR world.

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Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).