Meta’s CTO confirmed to The Verge earlier reporting about two 2027 headsets, one canceled and the opposite being labored on.
The reporting in query got here from The Info again in August. The outlet first reported that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CTO Andrew Bosworth canceled La Jolla, the high-end headset that they had deliberate for 2027 that seemingly would have been a Quest Professional 2. 5 days later, it reported that on the identical assembly this choice was made, they greenlit an ultralight headset with a tethered compute puck for a similar 12 months.
Meta Reportedly Cancels Quest Professional 2
Meta has reportedly canceled the high-end headset it deliberate for 2027 as a result of excessive price of its micro-OLED shows.
Meta Plans Ultralight Headset With Tethered Puck For 2027
Meta reportedly plans a brand new extraordinarily mild headset with a tethered compute & battery puck for 2027 as a substitute of the canceled Quest Professional 2.
Within the newest version of his publication, The Verge’s Alex Heath writes that in his dialogue with Bosworth whereas he was at Meta making an attempt the Orion AR glasses prototype, Bosworth confirmed these two reported choices and defined Meta’s strategy to creating new {hardware}.
In keeping with Heath, Bosworth cited the “tepid response” to the unique Quest Professional because the reasoning for canceling La Jolla. However arguably extra curiously, Bosworth detailed the levels of Meta’s {hardware} growth cycle:
- Pre-Discovery: a devoted staff is all the time “prototyping the craziest stuff”, making a “proof of expertise” for every concept.
- Discovery: a “small quantity” of Pre-Discovery ideas are accredited by govt assessment to proceed to the Discovery part, the place “a couple of” workers look at the practicalities of commercial design and price.
- Prototyping: if deemed sensible, Discovery ideas are prototyped, involving “possibly 10 instances extra folks”, who construct built-in {hardware} and software program to convey the idea to life.
- Engineering Validation Take a look at: “roughly half” of these prototypes go to this ultimate stage, the place they’re placed on the product roadmap. Of those EVTs, Meta executives apparently kill “about half” earlier than they ship, whereas the others launch to the general public.
Heath says Bosworth informed him the ultralight headset with a puck, codenamed Puffin, was moved from Pre-Discovery to Discovery. Which means it may nonetheless be killed off in Prototyping or the EVT part.
There is no point out of what stage La Jolla was at.
