The Meta Quest Pro (previously known as Project Cambria) has finally been announced at Meta Connect. It’s Meta’s most advanced headset yet, offers support for AR and is available later this month. Here’s everything you need to know about the Meta Quest Pro.
The Meta Quest Pro is the company formerly known as Oculus’ new high-end mixed reality headset and a massive upgrade on the existing and well-loved Meta Quest 2. It also debuts a brand new sleek design and new self-tracking controllers.
During Meta Connect, the company confirmed the top specs, features, price, release date and gave us an impressive sales pitch for the hardware that’ll power the next generation of AR and VR experiences. There’s a full colour passthrough mode for mixed reality, eye-tracking tech and realistic face tracking to enable your real-life expressions to be transferred to your avatar.
There is a focus on work experiences, rather than the fun we’ve seen to date within the Quest line, but there’s plenty here for entertainment and social purposes too. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg says this is a “high-end device that’s designed for work and anyone who wants the best” technology Meta can offer.
Release date
The Meta Quest Pro has been announced and is available to pre-order now. The release date is officially October 25 this year, but a quick glance at the pre-order process tips delivery on October 26. The device was, as expected, announced during the Meta’s Connect conference on October 11 2022.
Pricing
The Meta Quest Pro is considerably more expensive than the Quest 2, which recently got a price increase to £399/$399.99 for the 128GB model, and £499/$499.99 for the 256GB configuration. You’ll be able to buy the Pro from Argos and Currys in the UK, as well as the official portal.
The Meta Quest Pro costs £1,499.99/$1,499.99. There’s only one configuration so far, with 12GB of RAM, 256GB.
Specs and features
Meta has finally revealed the Meta Quest Pro in all it’s glory, and that includes an eye-watering spec sheet, including the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ processor that was developed in collaboration with Meta.
That’s going to provide 50 per cent performance improvements over the Oculus Quest 2, Meta says, combined with 12GB of RAM and ten powerful VR/MR sensors. There’s no word on expected battery life right now, but it will be recharged by USB-C. There’ll be a charging dock too, to ensure that it’s ready to go when you are.
In terms of the visuals, Meta has made huge strides too. The company speaks of “thin pancake optics that fold light several times over, reducing the depth of the optical module by 40% while providing clear and sharp visuals.” The two LCD displays include the quantum dot technology you’ve heard of in some high-end televisions. There’s 37% greater pixel density than the Quest 2, as well as “25% improvement in full-field visual sharpness in the centre view, 50% improvement in the peripheral region.”
The colour gamut is 1.3x larger than the Quest 2, while new dimming software and backlighting hardware should ensure each individual display has a 75% greater range of contrast. The company isn’t revealing the full tech specs of the display, like the resolution, right now, but it does say there’ll be the ability to alter the level of immersion thanks to continuous lens spacing adjustment tools (55mm-75mm)
Design and controllers
The Meta Quest 2 design looks very old hat compared to the new Meta Quest Pro, which is perhaps the sleekest take we’ve seen on the medium to date. The all-black design is certainly slimmed down considerably and Meta says it’s thanks to those pancake lenses within the optics, and the way the battery has been moved to the headband at the back of the headset.
However, the biggest change comes in the way the device doesn’t dominate your field of vision. For full immersion you can snap on some light blockers included in the box, but it’s designed to allow your peripheral vision to assist with other tasks while you work.
As you can see from the image, there are redesigned controllers too, which also arrive in that same fetching shade of black. They’ve been designed to be more ergonomic, and act more like extensions of your hands. However, that’s not the greatest advancement – Meta says there’s a full 360-degree range of motion thanks to three built-in sensors in each controller that can track the user in 3D space independently of the headset. Zuckerberg called them computers in their own right.
They come with the headset, but additional controllers will cost £299/$299 per pair.
Mixed reality features
The passthrough tech within within the Meta Quest 2 allows you to see the world around you in black and white. It’s mainly to ensure you aren’t bumping into stuff. However, the Meta Quest Pro takes things up multiple levels with the passthrough tech used for augmented reality experiences.
“With Meta Quest Pro, you can view your physical environment in full color. This helps developers create more robust mixed reality experiences using our Presence Platform suite of tools. Meta Quest Pro features stereoscopic mixed reality Passthrough, which combines multiple sensor views to create a natural view of the world in 3D,” Meta said following the event.
The company says this will provide a more comfortable experience, compared to monoscopic passthrough solutions, offering better depth perception. Meta says this will enable users to work in mixed reality with virtual workspaces combining with tools we use at our desks in the real world, such as a keyboard and mouse.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
