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 below $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 could be a serious worth drop for the buyer Quest; the Quest 2 sells for $299 after Meta briefly tried to lift the worth, and the upcoming Quest 3 was introduced at $499. The report additionally says the brand new high-end headset shall 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, nevertheless, the report tracks roughly with Meta’s previous habits within the VR house. Though $200 could 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 doubtless 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 cellular Gear VR.

That stated, it’s price stating that none of those have been thought-about 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 remaining 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 revolutionary VR tech that may come extra slowly to its cheaper mass-market merchandise. An LG three way partnership may keep that function, however provided that it appears to be like a little bit completely different from a few of these previous partnerships.