Meta Quest Pro getting a successor after all? Details on cheap Quest "Ventura" and premium Quest "La Jolla" leak

Meta Quest Pro getting a successor after all? Details on cheap Quest "Ventura" and premium Quest "La Jolla" leak

As we approach the September 27 Meta Connect 2023 event, when we expect to get an official release date for the upcoming Quest 3 headset, news about extra AR/VR headsets coming from Meta have popped up.

Surprisingly (for some of us, at least), it appears the company behind Facebook, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has grand plans to not only attempt a premium headset again, but also an ultra-affordable one, and soon. Let's start with that one…

Quest 3 lite? A cheaper version of Meta's next VR headset is coming in 2024 – codenamed Meta Quest "Ventura"

According to a report from The Verge, based on a leaked internal presentation at Meta, the Facebook giant is clearly aware that people have noticed the Quest 3's increased price – $100 more than the Quest 2 – which may be a dealbreaker for some.

But good news – Meta appears to be working on a budget version of the Quest 3 headset, codenamed "Ventura". A company representative has been quoted describing the idea behind it, as follows:

"The goal for this headset is very simple: pack the biggest punch we can at the most attractive price point in the VR consumer market".

Considering the Quest 3 will have a $499 starting price tag, and the Quest 2 was $399 at launch, we can speculate that this "Ventura" headset, which has one goal, and one goal only – to be affordable and accessible to as many people as possible, could be $299 or less.

As to what technical sacrifices we should expect from this cheaper VR headset, in order for Meta to be able to reach such a low price point, that's also up for speculation. Key downgrade suspects might reasonably be the display, as well as the processor, and build quality; namely things like weight and size, surely to be larger than the Quest 3.

But we're definitely excited to see prospects of VR becoming even more accessible in 2024, when this headset's plans to launch are set for. No concrete dates yet, or really much more intel on it, but stay tuned – we might get some soon enough, during or after Meta's 2023 Connect event.

A Quest Pro successor? Expensive, premium Meta Quest "La Jolla" planned to release after "Ventura"

Late last year Meta made an attempt to sell a premium iteration of their regular Quest headsets, aptly named the Quest Pro, but due to poor marketing, a high price tag, and attempting to target a very niche demographic, it did not sell to the company's expectations. By several accounts, a successor of the Quest Pro was out of the question.

However, it seems Meta hasn't given up on premium AR/VR headsets just yet, possibly inspired by the premium Apple Vision Pro headset that's coming in 2024 with a price tag of $3,499.

According to the same report from earlier, after Meta releases the budget VR headset "Ventura" in 2024, the company will turn its focus on exactly the opposite – a high-end, and expensive Meta Quest "La Jolla" headset, which is speculated to cost several thousand dollars also.

“We want to make it higher resolution for work use and really nail work, text and things like that,” The Verge quoted Meta CPO Mark Rabkin. “We want to take a lot of the comfort things from Quest Pro and how it sits on your head and the split architecture and bring that in for comfort.”

This quote from an internal Meta memo makes it perfectly clear that "La Jolla" will, in fact, be a spiritual successor of the Meta Quest Pro, which was also designed with AR/VR productivity and virtual office work in mind, and was notably found uncomfortable to wear for many reviewers and users.

The "La Jolla" headset will feature photorealistic "Codec Avatars" for its users to presumably use for virtual meetings, plus, the obvious – higher specs, and premium build quality. If Meta is aiming for crystal clear text in VR, we can expect a very high display resolution, and a pretty beefy processor capable of driving the kind of (likely micro-OLED) displays needed.

So even though we have plenty of reasons to be excited for the upcoming Quest 3, it seems 2024 has a lot more great surprises in store for us AR and VR fans. Stay tuned for updates.