Meta Quest Pro 2: everything we know about the Apple Vision Pro competitor
Meta’s Quest 3 may be less than a year old, but Meta appears to be working on a few follow-ups. Leaks and rumors point to the existence of a Meta Quest 3 Lite β a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3 β and a Meta Quest Pro 2 β a sequel to the high-end Meta Quest Pro.
The original Meta Quest Pro doesn’t seem to have been all that popular – evidenced by the fact that its price was permanently slashed by a third less than six months after launch – but the Apple Vision Pro seems to have sparked a renaissance of high-end products . put an end to standalone VR hardware. This means we’ll get a Samsung XR headset (developed in collaboration with Google), and most likely some sort of Meta Quest Pro 2.
While one leak suggested that the Meta Quest Pro 2 had been delayed – after Meta canceled a project that the leak suggested would be the next Quest Pro – there’s more than a little evidence that the device is on its way. Here’s all the evidence, as well as everything you need to know about the Meta Quest Pro 2 β including some of our insight and the features we’d most like to see.
Meta Quest Pro 2: price
Since the Meta Quest Pro 2 hasn’t been announced yet, we don’t know exactly how much it will cost, but we expect it to be at least as expensive as the original, which launched for $1,499.99 / Β£1,499.99 / AU$ 2,449.99.
The Meta Quest Pro was permanently discounted to $999.99 / Β£999.99 / AU$1729.99 five months after launch, but we expect this was Meta trying to give the Quest Pro a much-needed sales boost rather than a to give an indication of the actual costs of the headset. So we expect this to be much cheaper than Quest Pro 2.
Furthermore, given that the device is expected to be more of an Apple Vision Pro competitor – which will cost $3,500 or around Β£2,800 / AU$5,350 – with powerful specs, LG-made OLED panels and could feature next- gen mixed reality capabilities. there is a good chance that it will cost more than its predecessor.
As such, we expect it to be closer to $2,000 / Β£2,000 / AU$3,000. Over time, and as more leaks about the hardware come out, we should get a better idea of ββits price β although as always, we won’t know for sure how much it will cost until Meta officially says something.
Meta Quest Pro 2: Release Date
Meta hasn’t announced β or even teased β the Quest Pro 2 yet. Given the usual release schedule, this means we probably won’t see a Pro model until October 2025 at the earliest; that’s because it would tease the device at this year’s Meta Connect in September/October 2024, and then launch it the following year, just like it did with the original Quest Pro and Quest 3.
But there are a few reasons why we could see it launch sooner or later. As for the later release date, we have the rumored Meta Quest 3 Lite β a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3. Meta may want to push this affordable model out of the gate sooner rather than later, which means it may have to take some time for release slot to come through the Quest Pro 2 could have been used.
Alternatively, Meta may want to release a high-end model as quickly as possible to prevent the Apple Vision Pro and others like the Samsung XR headset from cornering the high-end VR market. If so, it could forego the usual tease and then release the strategy and release the headset later this year β or tease it at Connect 2024 and then launch it in early 2025 instead of a year later, in late 2025, as usually.
This speculation all assumes that there is even a Meta Quest Pro 2 on the way – although Meta has strongly hinted that another Pro model could be coming in the future; we’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store.
Meta Quest Pro 2: Specifications
Based on LG and Meta’s announcement of their official partnership to bring OLED displays to Meta VR headsets in the future, it’s likely that the Meta Quest Pro 2 will feature OLED displays. While these types of displays are typically pricey, the Quest Pro 2 is expected to be a high-end model (with a high price tag), and with OLED panels it would be on par with other high-end XR products such as the Apple Vision Pro.
It also seems likely that the Meta Quest Pro 2 will feature a Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset β the successor to the Gen 1 used by the Quest Pro. If it launches further into the future than we expect, it could instead boast a currently unannounced Gen 3 model.
While the rumors haven’t revealed any other specs, we’re also assuming the device would feature full-color mixed reality like Meta’s Quest 3 and Quest Pro – though the passthrough would ideally be higher quality than either of these devices (or at least better than the rather poor mixed reality of the Quest Pro).
In addition, we predict that the device will have at least as good specifications as its predecessor. By that we mean we expect the base Quest Pro 2 to come with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and at least two hours of battery life.
Meta Quest Pro 2: what we want to see
We’ve already highlighted in depth what we want to see from the Meta Quest Pro 2 β namely that it should ditch eye-tracking and replace it with four different features. But we’ll summarize some of those points here and make a few new ones of things we want to see in the Quest Pro 2.
A much better mixed-reality passthrough, more entertainment apps and 4K OLED displays would go a long way towards making the Meta Quest Pro 2 look a lot more like a Vision Pro competitor – so we hope to see them on the Quest Pro 2 .
Eye tracking can also help, but Meta really needs to prove it’s worth it. So far, every instance of the technology feels like an expensive tech demo for a feature that’s nice, but not all that useful.
Ignoring the specs and design for a moment, our main hope is that the Quest Pro 2 isn’t as prohibitively expensive as the Apple Vision Pro. While the Vision Pro is great, $3,500 is too much, even for a high-end VR headset, when you consider how and how often the device will be used. Ideally the Quest Pro 2 would cost a maximum of $2,000 / Β£2,000 / AU$3,000, but until we know more about the specs we won’t know how realistic our request is.
Finally, we hope the device is light, perhaps with a removable battery pack like that seen in the HTC Vive XR Elite. This would allow someone who wants to work at their desk or sit back and watch a movie in VR to wear a much lighter device for longer periods of time (provided they are near a power source). Alternatively, they can plug in the battery and enjoy a typical standalone VR experience β for us this would be a win-win situation.