Quest 3 to Help Maintain Meta’s XR Dominance Even as Apple Entry Looms
- Meta announced the launch of the Quest 3 headset on June 1. To be retailed at just under $500, it will be released in autumn. The Quest 3 will have both VR and MR capabilities.
- The Quest 2 has also received a $100 price cut, with the entry-level variant available at $299 starting June 4.
- Together with its newly discounted predecessor, the Quest 3 is expected to help the company maintain market dominance for now.
- Meta’s announcement came days ahead of WWDC, where Apple will reportedly announce its own MR headset.
London, San Diego, New Delhi, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Hong Kong – June 5, 2023
The announcement of Meta’s Quest 3 headset at $499.99 and the Quest 2’s $100 price cut to $299 just before the rumoured launch of Apple’s first mixed reality (MR) headset shows the social media parent’s determination to lead the extended reality (XR) headset market.
Meta described the Quest 3, which will have both VR and MR capabilities, as its “most powerful headset yet”. The announcement of a successor to the best-selling XR model in history after three years of no consumer-grade headset launches by Meta is an important step forward for the company as well as for the industry.
In line with the season’s flavour, mixed reality, the Quest 3 features the next generation of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset and yet to be disclosed but likely superior display resolution, memory, battery life and weight.
The Quest 3’s launch in autumn, together with the price cut of the Quest 2, will be enough to maintain Meta’s market dominance in terms of shipments for the foreseeable future.
Apple’s expected announcement of a $3,000 MR headset during this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5 will create the biggest challenge to Meta since its entry into the segment through the acquisition of Oculus VR in 2014. If Apple succeeds in bringing the cost down and gaining a foothold in the market through successive iterations of the $3,000 headset, it may supplant Meta as the biggest revenue generator in the market which Meta has dominated thus far both in terms of revenue and shipments.
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Harmeet Singh Walia
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Harmeet Singh Walia
Harmeet works in Counterpoint Research’s India team, where he focuses on smartphone shipment forecasts, extended reality, consumer research and consulting projects. He was previously a consultant, formulating digital transformation & M&A strategies for companies in sectors including TMT and electronic manufacturing. He also has over five years of analyst experience working for the Economist Group and in investment banking. Harmeet holds a finance-focused masters from Warwick Business School.
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