Mark Zuckerberg of Meta has spoken up in response to Apple’s new Vision Pro, claiming that there is a philosophical difference between the two companies when it comes to mixed and virtual reality. Zuckerberg was quick to point out that the $3,500 Vision Pro is seven times more expensive than Meta’s upcoming $499 Quest 3, which the company announced just days before Apple’s own WWDC reveal.
However, Zuckerberg took things a step further by suggesting to Meta employees that Apple’s vision of the future of computing is an anti-social one. According to The Verge, he commented during an all-hands meeting that every demo shown by Apple featured a person sitting alone on a couch.
While that may be one vision of the future of computing, Zuckerberg made it clear that it’s not the one he wants.
He recently downplayed the launch of Apple’s latest creation, the Vision Pro. Apple is excellent at selling products, thanks to their loyal fanbase and rock-solid ecosystem. The Vision Pro is set to revolutionize the computing industry, just like the iPhone did. In comparison, Facebook is primarily a data and advertising company, with a poor track record when it comes to inspiring loyalty. With the Vision Pro being vastly more capable than Meta Quest, it may be challenging for Zuckerberg to keep up in the long run. Even Zuckerberg admits that Apple’s design choice may make sense for their targeted market. Will Facebook be able to adapt when a cheaper Vision Pro emerges? Only time will tell.
Meta may have a head start in the race for top VR headset, with their enterprise-focused Quest Pro. However, my colleague Tony wasn’t sure it would gain mass appeal and I believe Apple has an advantage thanks to their ecosystem and developer community. If Apple’s Vision Pro can make a strong entry into the market, it could eclipse Meta’s upcoming Quest Pro device.
Unlike phones or laptops, I don’t see consumers buying multiple VR headsets. With Apple’s ability to offer multiple entertainment options across devices, it could be difficult for Meta to compete. Meanwhile, consumers have historically been hesitant about investing in VR technology, despite Meta selling “tens of millions of Quests”..
Mark Zuckerberg’s full statement on Apple Vision Pro
Apple finally announced their headset, so I want to talk about that for a second. I was really curious to see what they were gonna ship. And obviously I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll learn more as we get to play with it and see what happens and how people use it.
From what I’ve seen initially, I’d say the good news is that there’s no kind of magical solutions that they have to any of the constraints on laws of physics that our teams haven’t already explored and thought of. They went with a higher resolution display, and between that and all the technology they put in there to power it, it costs seven times more and now requires so much energy that now you need a battery and a wire attached to it to use it. They made that design trade-off and it might make sense for the cases that they’re going for.
But look, I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision that our companies bring to this in a way that I think is really important. We innovate to make sure that our products are as accessible and affordable to everyone as possible, and that is a core part of what we do. And we have sold tens of millions of Quests.
More importantly, our vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social. It’s about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways. Our device is also about being active and doing things. By contrast, every demo that they showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself. I mean, that could be the vision of the future of computing, but like, it’s not the one that I want. There’s a real philosophical difference in terms of how we’re approaching this. And seeing what they put out there and how they’re going to compete just made me even more excited and in a lot of ways optimistic that what we’re doing matters and is going to succeed. But it’s going to be a fun journey.