Meta Reportedly Working on a High-end Quest Pro Successor Alongside Quest 4

Meta Quest Pro did not meet expectations as a prosumer product, leading the company to discontinue its first mixed reality headset after just over two years on the market. According to a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Meta is now working on a new consumer-focused Quest 3 headset, as well as a “high-end” model that could potentially replace the Quest Pro.

Gurman’s newsletter covers a variety of recent XR news, including rumors of Meta possibly incorporating a display into its upcoming Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and reports of Apple scaling back production of the Vision Pro headset due to decreased demand for the $3,500 device.

Insider sources cited by Gurman also revealed that Meta is developing both the Quest 4 VR goggles and a new high-end model that could eventually take the place of the Quest Pro mixed-reality headset.

The Quest Pro, which was released in late 2022, marked a departure from Meta’s usual line of consumer standalone headsets, which were typically priced around $300 at the time.

Initially priced at $1,500, the Quest Pro boasted several features not found in its counterpart, the Quest 2, including color-passthrough, pancake lenses, and face and eye-tracking. However, less than five months after its release, Meta reduced the price of the Quest Pro to $1,000 in an attempt to attract more prosumer customers.

In July 2023, a report from The Information claimed that Meta was discontinuing the Quest Pro line altogether. Meta’s CTO and Reality Labs chief, Andrew Bosworth, quickly refuted this claim, stating, “don’t believe everything you read.”

Another report from The Information in July 2024 suggested that Meta was shifting its focus from the Quest Pro to the development of a lightweight mixed reality device resembling bulky glasses, codenamed ‘Puffin,’ with a projected release date of 2027. Additionally, Meta announced plans to release a pair of AR glasses before 2030 that would offer similar functionality to its Orion AR glasses prototype.

A subsequent report from The Information indicated that a Quest Pro 2 prototype, codenamed ‘La Jolla,’ had been scrapped. Bosworth later confirmed the cancellation of La Jolla and the development of Puffin, but did not confirm whether Meta was abandoning the Quest Pro line altogether.

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Meta’s approach to product development involves creating and discontinuing prototypes as part of their exploration process, as explained by Bosworth. The status of projects like Quest Pro 2 and others remains uncertain, making it challenging to determine whether reported developments are progressions or dead-ends.

While denying reports of the Quest Pro line’s cancellation, Bosworth hinted at the possibility of a Quest Pro 2, stating, “there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not revealing anything, but I will say not everything you read about what’s happening is accurate.”