Meta Quest Pro VR headset
Meta has stopped selling its high-end Quest Pro virtual reality headset.
“Meta Quest Pro is no longer available,” is the message you see if you try to head to the headset’s product page. The store points you towards the Meta Quest 3 instead, as spotted by UploadVR.
The Quest Pro originally launched in October 2022 as a $1499 headset, but it did not sell particularly well and its price was dropped to $999 in March 2023.
It proved the point the Apple Vision Pro would go on to underscore in February 2024 at its US release: high-end, expensive VR is a tough sell.
The headset, while great in its own right, became even harder to recommend following the Quest 3’s release in October 2023. It was a significantly cheaper headset, and a more powerful one too.
This does mean a few high-end features are now completely absent from the current Quest headset line-up, though.
Meta Quest’s Missing Features
The Meta Quest Pro uses miniLED display tech, which provides greater contrast and richer color than is seen in the Quest 3.
More important, the Quest Pro also supports eye tracking, where the headset can estimate what you’re looking at. The Apple Vision Pro uses this tech to let your eyes act like a mouse cursor, rather than having to use controllers like the Quest 3’s.
Such higher-end features are not all that compatible with the trajectory of mainstream VR at the moment, and that’s a shame.
However, a refocusing on what made headsets like the Meta Quest 2 such a hit does appear to be paying off.
While Meta has not announced concrete sales figures for the Quest 3 or Quest 3S, CEO Mark Zuckerberg did suggest the higher-end model was “outpacing our expectations” in a Q2 2024 investor call last year.
Meta did apparently have plans for a Quest Pro 2 at one point dubbed “La Jolla.” It was pencilled in for a 2027 release but its development was cancelled according to reports that surfaced last year.
This does not mean Meta will never release a self-consciously high-end VR/AR headset again. But the performance of the Quest Pro and Apple Vision Pro suggests a focus on what people will buy rather than what is technically possible will lead to a better outcome for all.