Meta has officially unveiled its new Meta VR Glasses; a virtual reality followup to its augmented reality glasses like the Meta Ray-Ban Display. Based on the specifications and design, the glasses seem like they’re designed to compete with the Apple Vision Pro at less than half the price.
The glasses have been announced for the United States at USD $1299 with a launch date in Q2 2027.
The question remains whether Meta can convince a mainstream audience that a VR device is worth owning for more than just gaming.
What are Meta VR Glasses?
The new glasses are the followup to the 2024 Oculus Quest 3S, and represent a shift away from a headset you strap into, and towards a lightweight wearable display.
The glasses resemble the thick Meta Ray-Ban Display model, but add a thin cable that attaches to the wearable compute device where all the processing happens. They weigh 100 grams for the glasses, plus 300 grams for the compute device.
The displays are micro-OLED panels with 2412 x 2288 resolution per eye and a density of 37 pixels per degree. They support Dolby Vision and IMAX Enhanced formats with up to 120Hz refresh rate.
The lenses offer a 70-degree horizontal field of view with integrated eye tracking and iris detection. This FOV is a little narrower than Quest headsets and the Apple Vision Pro.
The processor is housed in the compute puck, and it’s a Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset with 12GB of RAM, 128GB onboard storage and microSD up to 1TB.
Meta claims at least 3 hours of use per charge.
What are they good for?
Meta will launch around 75 hand-only VR experiences at launch, plus the full Meta Quest catalogue of titles. The VR Glasses feature full compatibility with Quest Touch Plus controllers.
Otherwise, they’re framed primarily as a private cinema or spatial workstation, for mirroring your phone or PC content. Streaming apps like Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Paramount+, and others will be available, and Meta is partnering with platforms to ensure 3D titles will be available for streaming.
The pitch is comfort. Most other VR headsets are much heavier and bulkier than the Meta VR Glasses, limiting their appeal for productivity, long movie sessions, and extended wear.
However, if the main idea is big virtual screens, the high price point is tough to justify compared to a large TV, a high quality computer monitor, or even cheaper VR headsets if you’re willing to put up with a bit more weight.
Plus, if gaming is considered secondary, they won’t appeal to the core set of VR fans who have been using headsets like the Valve Index, older Quest headsets, and the HTC Vive.
Is the metaverse still alive?
Meta Reality Labs has burned billions of dollars with limited return on investment, and the company reportedly mothballed much of its metaverse project after lukewarm reception.
Even so, the launch of the Meta VR Glasses calls into question just how dead the idea is. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that breakthrough technology would be needed to accelerate adoption of VR, and it’s clear to see that wearing a pair of glasses is more appealing than a headset.
It remains to be seen how Meta will support the devices over the long term, but Zuckerberg’s belief in the metaverse idea seems likely to keep them working for at least a while.
Our opinion
Ever since I first experienced VR with a friend’s Oculus Rift DK2 prototype, the technology has been pretty fascinating to me, but even over a decade later it feels like VR has remained as a niche.
Gaming has long been the most obvious use for the tech, and wider use cases have been a bit more limited.
Hopefully with the introduction of a new, lightweight device, interest in the segment will be reinvigorated. Only time will tell.
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