Mark Zuckerberg believes the absence of motion blur on the Meta Quest 3, coupled with its lower price, places his company’s virtual reality headset in a better position to outperform Apple’s Vision Pro.
The Meta CEO made a bold declaration last week when he appeared on a video reviewing Apple’s Vision Pro and comparing its functionality with that of Quest 3, the firm’s latest VR headset.
Also read: A Bad Apple: Users Return Their Vision Pro Headsets After Falling Sick
Quest 3: ‘No blur, just crisper’
Shared via Instagram and shot in Zuckerberg’s living room with Quest 3’s high-resolution mixed reality passthrough, the billionaire criticized what he considers to be the shortcomings of Apple’s first-ever virtual and augmented reality headset.
He highlighted the price difference between the far more costly Vision Pro and Quest 3, saying this does not reflect quality as Meta’s product is superior and offers a better user experience. (Vision Pro costs $3,500, and Quest 3 starts at $499).
“It seems like there are a lot of people who just assumed that the Vision Pro would be higher quality because it’s designed by Apple and costs three thousand dollars more,” Zuckerberg said.
“But honestly, I’m pretty surprised that Quest is so much better for the vast majority of things that people use these headsets for, with that price differential.”
Zuckerberg praised Vision Pro’s eye-tracking and high resolution. However, he said the company sacrificed ergonomics to achieve quality, something he clearly did not imagine to be wise.
Virtual reality headsets are primarily designed for immersive experiences, including games and virtual sports. The Facebook founder claimed that for this function, Quest 3 edges Vision Pro.
“Apple’s headset has a motion blur, of which Quest is just crisper,” he said.
Zuckerberg also said Quest has a wider field of view (FoV)—110 degrees horizontal FoV—a term that describes how much of the virtual world a person can see around them at once. Headsets with a wider FoV help users avoid moving their heads much during an experience. Apple doesn’t mention Vision Pro’s FoV.
More comfort
The Vision Pro does not allow people using the headset in the same room to enter the same virtual space, yet other iterations allow this even from different locations, according to people who have tested the device.
Early users have also complained about the practicality of using Vision Pro for immersive experiences like watching movies and playing games, in part because of the discomfort that comes with wearing a heavier device.
Some people have since returned their gadgets to Apple for a refund. Vision Pro weighs up to 650 grams, depending on how it is configuured, and that excludes the battery, which weighs 353 grams. By comparison, the Quest 3 weighs 515 grams.
“Quest 3 is a lot more comfortable; we designed it to weigh 120 grams less, which is really a big deal when it is on your face,” Zuckerberg said.
The Meta CEO admitted Apple won the battle for smartphone market share, but he says the dominance will not be easy to replicate in mixed reality, a blend of virtual and augmented reality.
His confidence is inspired by the strides made by Microsoft in the PC era, where it offered an open-source model and interoperability. Zuckerberg said the unrestricted nature of Quest 3 will be an advantage in the long run.
“If you go back to the PC era, Microsoft’s open model was the winner, and in this next generation, Meta is going to be the open model,” he stated.
Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, are foes in the tech industry, with a rivalry dating back more than a decade. Over the years, either party has made snide remarks about products developed by the other.
The differences in opinion have now developed into a turf war over a space Zuckerberg believes in so much that he decided to press on with investments into the metaverse even in the face of a $4.5 billion loss at Meta Reality Labs, the unit spearheading Meta’s metaverse ambitions. VR headsets are one of the tools used to enter the metaverse.
“After using it [Apple Vision Pro], I don’t just think that Quest is the better value; I think that Quest is the better product. Period.”
Zuckerberg is obviously not an objective and neutral reviewer of a competitor’s product. The man ignored some areas where Vision Pro performs far better than Quest 3, like processing power and extra features such as EyeSight, as reported by Mashable.
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