Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally tried Apple Vision Pro, stating the "seven times less expensive" Meta Quest 3 is "better for the vast majority of things that people use mixed reality for."
Meta Quest 3
Apple has never directly competed with Meta in the traditional sense. It was sometimes a thorn in its side with features like App Tracking Transparency, but with Apple Vision Pro, it has entered Meta's competitive space without question.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he's finally tried Apple Vision Pro in a Reel posted to Instagram. He's pretty expressive and ready to declare victory in a battle that's only just begun between the tech titans.
"I finally tried Apple Vision Pro," Zuckerberg said in an Instagram Reel. "I don't think that Quest is the better value, I think Quest is the better product, period."
This is a significant contrast to June 2023 when Meta pre-announced Meta Quest 3 just days before Apple announced Apple Vision Pro. Clearly, there was some sense of a threat from Apple entering the space, but the two headsets exist in completely different markets.
If you pick around some of the more grandiose claims, Zuckerberg does make some good points. Apple Vision Pro is not a mass-market product at $3,500, and at launch, at least, it lacks custom experiences.
Design, content, and functionality
Meta has had years to partner with developers and build its immersive content library. Apple's ecosystem and developer community likely will help Apple Vision Pro catch up in that respect.
Meta Quest 3 weighs between 85 grams and 135 grams less than Apple Vision Pro, depending on configuration, and doesn't need an external battery pack. That weight difference is mostly attributed to the build and materials.
Apple Vision Pro
He says Meta's design choices lean into the functionality the company aimed for -- games, socializing, working out, and more. Comfort is critical, and the lack of wires helps with these functions, too.
Zuckerberg wanted to be clear that Meta Quest 3 has a "high-quality passthrough with big screens." The Reel was even recorded on Meta Quest 3 in Zuckerberg's brightly lit living room with giant sunlight-filled windows, ensuring the best results.
He also highlights that he believes the displays are brighter, have less motion blur, and that hand tracking is better on the Quest. There's no eye tracking in Meta Quest 3, but Zuckerberg says that's a feature that will return.
At one point, it was mentioned that Meta Quest 3 was the only place to watch YouTube or play Xbox versus Apple Vision Pro. This is incorrect thanks to apps like Nexus and Juno.
Open versus closed
"I know that some fanboys get upset whenever anyone dares question if Apple is going to be the leader in a new category," Zuckerberg commented. "In the next generation, Meta is going to be the open model."
He says the desktop era was more open thanks to Microsoft, but the mobile era is closed down because of Apple. Meta hopes to win the VR space by being more open and beating out Apple's closed ecosystem approach.
With Meta Quest 3 priced much lower than Apple Vision Pro, it controls a broader market. It's as if Meta will end up as the Android of the headset space.
The Reel ends on an odd note with Mark Zuckerberg quoting "the best way to predict the future is to invent it." Versions of that quote have existed for decades, but the two places that stands out is Alan Kay in 1971 at PARC, and The Well Manicured Man of "The X-Files" in 1995 -- a more fitting analogue.
There are a lot of opinions surrounding Apple Vision Pro and its future. Some are more positive than others, but of course, it is obvious that the CEO of Meta isn't going to come out and say its competitor has a better product.