Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, sells the popular Meta Quest VR headsets, which used to be called Oculus Quest. Meta held its highly-anticipated VR event today, where it revealed a new high-end headset.
The new Meta Quest Pro isn't a replacement for the popular entry-level Quest 2 headset, which went up in price in August. The Quest Pro is much more expensive, with a starting price of $1,499.99 -- more than the M2 MacBook Air. It's the first headset with the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 chipset, along with 12 GB RAM, 256 GB of internal storage, and ten high-resolution sensors. Meta says all those hardware improvements mean a 50% power boost while still dissipating heat better than the Quest 2.
Meta is promising industry-leading visuals to go with that hardware boost. The company said in a blog post, "Meta Quest Pro's entirely new optical stack replaces the Fresnel lenses in Meta Quest 2 with thin pancake optics that fold light several times over, reducing the depth of the optical module by 40% while providing clear and sharp visuals. The two LCD displays use local dimming and quantum dot technology to provide richer and more vivid colors. Our custom local dimming tech, powered by specialized backlight hardware and accompanying software algorithms, can control more than 500 individual LED blocks independently, giving the displays 75% more contrast."
The Quest Pro is also the first device to ship with the company's new Meta Quest Touch Pro controllers. The main difference is the addition of three built-in sensors to track the controller's position independent of the headset, which improves tracking and range of motion. There's also updated haptics, and you can buy the controller separately for use with a Quest 2 -- they cost $299.99 on their own.
Meta's shiny new headset is available for pre-order starting today, with a shipping date in late October (as of the time of writing). The company was also quick to note that the Quest 2 isn't going anywhere, and will exist alongside the Pro as the entry-level option.