It looks like the Meta Quest 3 is taking another step towards an Apple Vision Pro that doesn’t cost $3,499 / £3,499 / AU$5,999, by adopting yet another feature from the Apple headset.
This time it’s a new window layout, although it’s not really fair to say that Meta is stealing this idea from Apple and just improving on the current approach. Instead of simply having three 2D apps side by side in fixed positions (which is currently possible on the Meta Quest 3 and other Meta headsets), you can now have three windows that can be freely placed anywhere in your virtual home office, and another three docked – making a total of six.
The experimental setting was unlocked as part of the HoizonOS v67 update that is currently in beta for members of the Meta Quest Public Test Channel. Clips from people testing it also show users switching the windows between curved and flat, as well as a feature that can lower the brightness of 2D environments – although this won’t work if you use the windows in mixed reality with passthrough.
Meta Quest OS v67 PTCSettings > Experimental features > New window layout pic.twitter.com/jDq0hdoCOVJune 25, 2024
While this brings the Quest 3 closer to the Vision Pro’s approach to 2D apps in a 3D space, it’s still not quite one-to-one. The biggest difference is that if you stray too far from a window, it returns to the default docked position on the Quest 3 – while with Vision Pro you can leave windows in their custom floating position indefinitely as if they were real objects .
That said, it’s also worth noting that the Meta Quest 3 only costs $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99, so it’s forgivable that it’s not a direct copy.
A closing gap
The Apple Vision Pro will always be better on a technical level than the Meta Quest 3 with its vastly better displays and chipset. But Apple hasn’t done enough to leverage its advantages in a way that matters, and likely always will.
The Vision Pro with its eye tracking, laptop-level power, focus on less active XR experiences and approach to hand tracking gives app developers a wide range of tools to create interesting software for the device.
However, what makes the headset unique is also its drawback: it is too different from its rivals. If you create a VR app that takes full advantage of the Vision Pro, it probably won’t work on other platforms (and vice versa). So when you weigh your options, creating an app that isn’t Vision Pro just makes more financial sense because it can run on more popular platforms; unless Apple offers a financial incentive.
Some classic VR games and apps are starting to get Vision Pro ports, but they’re in small numbers and have trickled in months after the headset launched and the hype had died down.
Instead, most of the apps it can run are can buy less than the cost of the Apple headset.
Meta, on the other hand, has continued to fund exciting exclusive apps – we get a bona fides Batman: Arkham game to take a recent example. At the same time, it’s rolling out major software updates every month that have only narrowed the gap between the Vision Pro and Quest 3.
We’ll have to wait and see how things go for the rest of the year and beyond, but my advice remains the same as ever: if you want to try VR, buy a Quest 3 or Quest 2 – there’s no good reason to buy one instead Vision Pro.