Meta AR headset plans take a serious setback, three years behind Apple's Vision Pro

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Tencent Science and Technology News on July 20th, before the release of Apple Vision Pro, Facebook parent company Meta rushed to release the first consumer-grade MR headset Quest 3, and announced that more details will be announced at the Meta Connect conference on September 27th. However, due to reasons such as the lack of Micro LED technology and being forced to cut costs, Meta has set the release date for AR headsets in 2027. This means that the Meta AR headset will be released three years later than Apple’s Vision Pro.

In March 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic began to rage around the world, Facebook, which had not yet reorganized into Meta at the time, reached an agreement to buy all the augmented reality displays manufactured by the British company Plessey. At the time, the deal seemed like a shrewd way to edge out Apple in the race to develop AR headsets, since Plessey is one of the few makers of AR displays. But three years later, the deal bankrupted what had become Meta.

According to people with knowledge of Plessey's technology, the company's technology development has ceased. Previously, Meta had struggled to make Plessey's display bright enough for the AR glasses it was developing, and to reduce defects in the manufacturing process. Earlier this year, Meta decided to ditch Plessey's MicroLED technology in favor of an older display technology, liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS). The decision is one of several that Meta has made for technical or cost-saving reasons, but it will reduce the AR headset's advantage over existing AR headsets such as Microsoft's HoloLens.

The decision to ditch Plessey's MicroLED technology means Meta will rely on liquid crystal on silicon technology for its augmented reality headsets. MicroLEDs contain tiny pixels and are difficult to produce because they require complex processes similar to semiconductor manufacturing. Similarly, Apple has been working to incorporate this technology into future versions of the Apple Watch for nearly a decade. In contrast, LCD-on-silicon technology was introduced to consumers in movie projectors in the 1990s. The technology isn't known for its brightness, which is a major requirement for augmented reality products because they must project images so users can see them clearly even in a well-lit room.

Meta spent some time looking for improvements to LCD-on-silicon technology. But people familiar with the matter say the technology is close to being phased out and the chances of major improvements in the future are slim. MicroLEDs, on the other hand, are still in their infancy and may improve over time. People familiar with Meta's MicroLED work say the company hasn't given up on the technology and will continue to work with Plessey, it just doesn't know when it will be ready for use.

It highlights the twists and turns that Meta is going through as it tries to stay ahead of Apple and other competitors in the still-developing augmented reality and virtual reality markets. Meta was an early entrant into the virtual reality market with its Quest headset, and has been working on an augmented reality headset to stay ahead of rivals like Snap that are trying to develop similar products. Now it faces competition from Apple, which last month unveiled its Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which will be available early next year. Meanwhile, Meta is under pressure from investors to limit spending more than $10 billion a year developing augmented and virtual reality products at its Reality Labs unit.

Technological setbacks have forced Meta to delay its AR headset release timeline multiple times, and the AR headset is not expected to be released to the public until at least 2027. And the company has had to scale back its ambitions elsewhere. For example, Meta told suppliers earlier this year that it would not be ordering any new components for the Quest Pro after poor reviews, weak sales, and steep price cuts for the Quest Pro VR headset, according to people familiar with the matter. Additionally, Meta has paused development of the second-generation Quest Pro, suggesting the company is exiting the high-end market in favor of cheaper Quest devices.

It was previously reported that Meta has also encountered setbacks in developing its own chips for augmented reality and virtual reality products, instead relying on its existing chip supplier Qualcomm. So far, Meta has declined to comment on the report.