Korean media reported that the next-generation Meta Quest Pro, produced in cooperation with LG, will be launched in the first half of next year.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will meet with LG CEO on February 28 to finalize the details of the partnership, according to South Korea Economy, citing "industry sources". This will be Zuckerberg's first public visit to South Korea since 2014, when he visited Samsung to finalize the Gear VR partnership.
Six months ago, another Korean media "Daily Economic News" reported that Meta had partnered with LG to build a future Quest Pro headset.
This isn't the first time Meta has partnered with an experienced consumer electronics company to develop a VR headset. Previously, the Gear VR was in charge of Samsung, the Oculus Go was manufactured by Xiaomi, and the Oculus Rift S was manufactured and co-designed by Lenovo. All three headsets feature the logos of partner companies and the Oculus branding. It's unclear how the LG brand will fit into the Quest Pro 2 or even whether it will be its name.
Similarly, Meta isn't the only software-first Big Tech company to partner with South Korean hardware companies to develop XR headsets. Last year, Samsung announced that it was working with Google on a headset and was responsible for the headset software development, which is scheduled to launch later this year.
In addition, the new report also claims that while Meta will be responsible for the new headset software, WebOS (LG TV operating system) will somehow be included. This could mean that this headset will essentially include a virtual LG TV. This will bring services such as Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, Paramount+, and Vudu without additional development from developers. For comparison, the Apple Vision Pro is very focused on *** and comes with Disney+ and Apple TV+ native apps, as well as support for iPad platforms such as Prime Video, but Quest currently has a serious lack of such apps. While Netflix is available on the Quest platform, the app only supports 480p streaming** and doesn't support**, pass-through mode, and hand tracking.
In addition, the Quest Pro 2 may also feature the CODEC ATARS feature, a long-term R&D project by Meta that aims to revolutionize long-range communication by driving truly convincing **-level real-world avatars in real-time through headsets with face-tracking sensors. Vision Pro's digital personas have a similar goal.
With Meta, LG, Samsung, and Google re-entering the XR field, there will be a multi-strong battle for hegemony in the XR market next year.
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