The Meta VR glasses are a new spatial computing device that’s one-sixth the weight of the Apple Vision Pro with a third of the cost, half the specs, and no immersion.
Take the front glass of the Apple Vision Pro, put it on the arms of thick glasses, remove the light seal, computer and surrounding hardware, and you end up with the Meta VR glasses. These are more glasses than goggles, and initial demos show some promise in delivering decent mixed augmented reality results.
Despite a headset that people seem ready to call a failure, the industry, particularly Meta, is truly committed to chasing Apple’s vision. However, unlike Apple, Meta couldn’t help but slap a logo directly on the user’s forehead.
The device costs $1,299.99 and will launch in spring 2027. Its operating system, eye tracking, and even the keyboard UI look eerily familiar to Apple’s visionOS platform.
There’s a good reason for these familiar hardware and software designs: Apple’s former design chief is now from Meta. The Quest line had already started cloning visionOS in many ways, but the Meta VR Glasses look like an Android-like clone of the platform.
In response to Apple’s Persona feature, Meta wants to introduce “holograms.” They weren’t holograms when Microsoft used the term for the ill-fated Hololens, and they aren’t now.
Graduated inserts are available for Meta VR glasses. Image source: Meta
The platform offering also appears to be similar to Apple’s approach. There will be immersive environments to sit in while watching films in 3D, including a partnership with Disney+.
Meta’s headphones are much lighter than Apple’s thanks to the external battery and hidden computing in a very Apple-like unit. I like this idea to take the burden off the user’s head and wouldn’t mind seeing Apple try it in the next generation Apple Vision Pro.
It’s lighter, it’s cheaper, but the performance won’t be that of the Apple Vision Pro. This cost and lightness come with tradeoffs, which further exemplify why Apple likely hasn’t pursued this exact form factor yet.
Each display is 2.5K rather than 4K. Users say text is clear and the software looks fine, but Apple Vision Pro users know there’s a huge difference between visible pixels and Retina quality.
The Meta VR glasses have an 84-degree field of view compared to the Apple Vision Pro’s 100 degrees. The lack of light shielding will also mean a visible gap between what you see on the display and your peripheral vision.
Meta is apparently planning to release light shields in the future.
It will be interesting to see what software has been created for the platform. Apple’s problem in attracting developers to Apple Vision Pro was strictly financial.
Apple Vision Pro has a developer issue that Meta will also have to contend with
There simply weren’t enough users to justify the investment, and even then, that just meant converting an existing app native to visionOS. Meta has a completely different problem to overcome and this is attracting developers to a platform they didn’t create for.
However, with the introduction of Android XR and Meta’s new spatial platform, there will likely be more developers thinking spatially. At the very least, the Meta VR glasses could help drive the development of software and experiences that will benefit Apple Vision Pro users as well.
The emergence of more spatial computing platforms by competitors inevitably means greater software and service support for products. The problem will, as always, be the different development standards and platforms required for each product.
Spatial computing is a very niche
At $1,299.99, it’s a tough sell. Virtual reality never took off in the same way as other computing paradigms. Companies have spent decades reinventing virtual reality or augmented reality in some way, and consumers simply never showed up.
Apple’s upcoming Apple Vision Pro could look very similar to what the Meta VR glasses offer
As popular as the Meta Quest headphones have been, the market is small and unprofitable. Apple’s so-called “flop” of the Apple Vision Pro earned a quarter of what the Meta Quest earned in the same holiday quarter of 2025, all while selling less than a tenth of the headphones.
The Apple Vision Pro did this in an entrenched niche market otherwise owned by Meta with a device 10 times the price of Meta’s hardware at the time. It remains to be seen what percentage of the VR market might purchase Meta’s latest headset.
Apple is always the goal
It’s a day that ends in “y,” so pundits are already salivating at the prospect of the Meta VR glasses being some sort of “win” for Meta over Apple. Headlines are already calling the Apple Vision Pro the big loser, even though they’ve made that statement multiple times for multiple products.
Nothing on the market has touched the Apple Vision Pro in terms of specs or fidelity. The Meta VR glasses are simply a different device to the Apple Vision Pro and probably shouldn’t be seen as a direct competitor, no matter how Meta wants to frame them.
Even Apple’s perceived “failures” are coveted by its competitors. Image source: Meta
We have already seen these titles on Snap Specs, Meta Quest, Android XR and many other products. Ads and PR cause a furious cycle of hype, but when the product launches, it doesn’t quite live up to expectations or simply fits a different position in the market.
Experts fall, products fade into the background, and Apple Vision Pro persists. You know, for a dead or dying product, it sure seems to make a lot of headlines about what’s going to kill it next.
Some readers may remember that the same has happened for almost all other Apple products. Every few months and it was always the same: “iPhone killer”, “Apple Watch killer”, “iPad killer” and so on.
Meta also announced some cameraless glasses and a small Tomogatchi-style AI charm. I haven’t seen the headline yet, but it’s only a matter of time before someone says Meta’s new audio glasses are coming for Apple AirPods, or that the AI pendant will kill the Apple Watch.
Rinse, repeat.
