Consumers just aren’t that interested in VR despite business expectations.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops virtual and augmented reality headsets, is canceling the development of its premium reality headset, The Information reported on Friday, quoting two unnamed sources.
The headset, codenamed La Jolla, aimed to compete with Apple’s VR headset Vision Pro and was supposed to be released in 2027.
After the report, Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth, was quick to hint that the company may still produce high-end VR headsets in the future. According to him, Meta has many prototypes under development, and it’s natural that not all of them reach the production stage.
“We move forward with some, we pass on others. Decisions like this happen all the time, and stories based on chatter about one individual decision will never give the real picture,” Bosworth said in a Threads post.
However, the trends in the VR industry are quite clear – consumers aren’t showing as much interest as companies expect.
While Apple’s $3500 VR headset Vision Pro received positive feedback after launch, its sales aren’t picking up. Earlier this year, analyst Ming Chi-Kuo reported that Apple had reduced its forecasts nearly twice to 350.000-400.000 units per year and decided to postpone the launch of the second version.
A survey by Reddit users also revealed that many who bought the Apple Vision Pro do not use it very often, with 12% saying that the device is a dust collector.
Meanwhile, Meta’s most high-end device, the Quest Pro, which costs $999, was canceled last year after it encountered weak sales and poor reviews.
The company also faces criticism due to Reality Labs' ongoing losses. In Q2, Reality Labs posted a $4.5 billion operating loss, while the division's overall losses have topped $50 million since 2020.
Some former Meta employees attribute the losses to constant reorganization and lack of competence.
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