Recently, LG officially announced its XR strategic cooperation with Meta.
Earlier today, Mark Zuckerberg met with LG CEO William Cho and LG Home Entertainment Division President Park Hyoung-Sei at LG's headquarters in Seoul to finalize the details of the partnership, which includes the development of a next-generation XR device that is likely to be the successor to the Meta Quest Pro.
LG confirmed that the talks included a discussion of "business strategies and considerations for the development of next-generation XR devices" and issued the following statement:
LG envisions a unique ecosystem in the XR space by combining Meta's platform with the content services capabilities of its TV business, which is one of the company's new business areas. In addition, the integration of Meta's diverse core technology elements with LG's cutting-edge products and quality systems is expected to create significant synergies in the development of next-generation XR devices.
The reference to the "content service capability of the TV business" may be Meta's plan to bring the streaming** service to the Quest platform, possibly through virtual LG TV. This can bring services like Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, Paramount+, and Vudu without extra effort from developers. While Apple Vision Pro has a strong focus on native*** apps that include Disney+ and Apple TV+, as well as support for iPad versions like Prime Video, Quest is sorely lacking in such apps at the moment. Quest has a Netflix app, but it only supports 480p streaming**, not clairvoyance, see-through, or hand tracking.
This isn't the first time Meta has partnered with an experienced consumer electronics company. Samsung is responsible for the hardware for the Gear VR, the Oculus Go is made by Xiaomi, and the Oculus Rift S is co-designed and manufactured by Lenovo. All three headsets feature the logos of partner companies and the Oculus branding. It's unclear how LG and Meta's brands will be integrated into the co-produced XR headset.
Nor is it the only software-first Big Tech company to partner with South Korean hardware companies on upcoming XR headsets. Last February, Samsung announced that it was working with Google on an XR headset and planned to launch it later this year.
The announcement came days before LG reported exactly the timing of the meeting.
The report, citing "industry sources", said that the LG x Meta headset will ship in the first half of 2025, with LG taking care of the hardware and Meta taking care of the software. Six months ago, another South Korean company, the National Business Daily, reported that Meta had partnered with LG to produce the future Quest Pro headset, with the first device planned to cost around $2,000.
LG headsets may also feature Codec **ATARS, Meta's long-term R&D project to revolutionize long-range communications by enabling photorealistic avatars driven in real-time by headsets with face-tracking sensors. Apple's Personas have a similar goal, but are currently mired in the uncanny valley effect, limited to a 2D window.
With Meta and LG and Google joining Samsung in the segment, the high-end headset market, which is currently dominated only by Apple, could turn into a "triwizard" next year.