Meta CTO clears the air about Quest Pro 2 cancellation
*Header image is referential and showcases the original Meta Quest Pro. | Image credit — Meta
We recently had reports of Meta canceling the Quest Pro 2, which was rumored to release in 2027. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth took to social media to elaborate, stating that this was just a single decision out of many and didn’t give “the real picture”.
The cancellation reports were for a headset Meta had codenamed La Jolla. First heard about in 2023, La Jolla was widely believed to be the successor to Meta Quest Pro, the company’s high-end VR headset.
La Jolla was reportedly going to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, even allegedly using the same micro-OLED displays as Apple’s headset. These displays ultimately ended up costing way too much, making Meta’s decision to make a headset that cost under $1,000 impossible. As such, La Jolla was canned. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of Quest Pro 2.
We recently had reports of Meta canceling the Quest Pro 2, which was rumored to release in 2027. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth took to social media to elaborate, stating that this was just a single decision out of many and didn’t give “the real picture”.
La Jolla was reportedly going to compete with the Apple Vision Pro, even allegedly using the same micro-OLED displays as Apple’s headset. These displays ultimately ended up costing way too much, making Meta’s decision to make a headset that cost under $1,000 impossible. As such, La Jolla was canned. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of Quest Pro 2.
Just your regularly scheduled public service announcement: we have many prototypes in development at all times. But we don't bring all of them to production. We move forward with some, we pass on others. Decisions like this happen all the time, and stories based on chatter about…
— Boz (@boztank) August 23, 2024
It seems quite obvious in hindsight now that Bosworth has chimed in with his two cents. Meta is a massive company, of course it’s working on multiple prototypes at the same time. La Jolla might have just been one vision of a potential Quest Pro 2.
Quest Pro is the only Quest headset that supports eye tracking. | Video credit — Meta
So, it seems we’re probably going to be getting a successor to the Quest Pro after all. It might not compete with the Vision Pro, it might not even use micro-OLED displays. But it’ll likely be a higher-end VR headset from Meta for VR enthusiasts who want to upgrade from the upcoming Meta Quest 4.
This leaves me wondering if the AI-powered AR smart glasses Meta has been working on for years will see similar decisions. After all, the unit under development now is only going to be a demo because of production costs. The consumer version years down the line might just be a completely different beast.
Nevertheless, I hope they end up becoming one of the best AR glasses ever made, and usher in a new era of computing.
Nevertheless, I hope they end up becoming one of the best AR glasses ever made, and usher in a new era of computing.
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