Meta Aims to Become the Leading Platform in the AR/VR Industry, Introducing the Vision Pro to Revitalize its Presence in the Metaverse

Apple is set to launch the Vision Pro headset on February 2, as pre-orders began earlier this month. Based on pre-orders, Apple sold more headsets than originally anticipated, and expectations keep increasing as the launch nears. Meta has been operating in the AR/VR field with its Quest lineup for a while and sees the Vision Pro as a potential competitor. However, Meta is hopeful that the Vision Pro will “reinvigorate” its efforts in the metaverse, aiming to be the ‘Android’ of the AR/VR world.

Meta believes the Vision Pro will “validate” its existing business and draw more consumers

While we have initial speculations, it remains to be seen how the Vision Pro is perceived in the industry as far as the use case is concerned. Apple’s Vision Pro is significantly more expensive than the Meta’s Quest lineup, but cheaper options are in the works to streamline the product lineup. However, the market is yet to reach an equilibrium based on whether the $3,499 price tag is justified compared to its utility. Note that the headset is still new, and the developers will take their time adapting to the new hardware and developing proper use cases. However, Meta remains hopeful as the Vision Pro would “reinvigorate” the metaverse.

The news comes from The Wall Street Journal, suggesting that people familiar with the subject claim that Meta hopes the Vision Pro will strengthen and bolster its $50 billion efforts in the metaverse. The Meta Quest lineup would have immense pressure from Apple’s Vision Pro, and it could open new doors for users as competition increases. Both companies would explore the competition and offer users their own set of features. This will improve the experience and offer more diversity to the end user.

Up until now, Meta has been playing alone in the AR/VR field with little to no competition and hopes to be the ‘Android’ of the category. The Quest lineup could get attention from potential Vision Pro customers. Mark Zuckerberg states that Apple’s entry in the AR/VR segment could “validate” their business and “draw more consumers.”

The iPhone could be operating alone in the smartphone space if it wasn’t for Android, and the same applies to its Vision Pro headset. Until further competition arises, Meta will continue to compete against Apple in the AR/VR field. However, it mainly depends on how developers see the two products. Since Apple is working on budget variants of the headset, the race between the two companies will become more intense in the future,

It can be observed that Meta is already influenced by the Vision Pro headset ahead of its launch as it aims to expand its efforts in mixed reality. As mentioned, how the market responds to the Vision Pro headset remains to be seen, considering its utility against the hefty price tag.