With the Apple Vision Pro now out in the wild, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now had a chance to don the VR/AR headset and experience it for himself. While he does have some positive things to say about the device, Zuckerberg has made it clear that he greatly prefers the Quest 3 in many respects. This isn’t just corporate chest-beating at large, though, as the criticisms he offers seem mostly fair.
Since its purchase of Oculus back in back in 2014, Meta has effectively dominated the mainstream virtual reality market. Whether we’re talking about the Quest 3 or Quest 2, the company has enjoyed continued success in gunning for the best VR headset crown. While the Vision Pro is more a competitor to the Quest Pro, Zuckerberg believes there’s less separating Apple’s device from more midrange offerings than you might think.
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Sharing his thoughts via an Instagram Reel, Zuckerberg began his assessment with a fairly clear cut statement. He says, “after using [Vision Pro], I don’t just think that Quest is better value, I think that Quest is the better product period.”
You can check out his thoughts verbatim in the embedded video above, but the short of it is that Zuckerberg believes “Quest is better for the vast majority of things that people used mixed reality for.” While he is of coursed biased as Meta CEO, it’s still hard to disagree with him.
Looking at Quest 3 prices, even the 512GB model ($649.99) looks to be better value than the eye-wateringly expensive Vision Pro ($3,499.99). Sure, Meta’s headset doesn’t feature eye tracking, a feature that Zuckerberg pays a backhanded compliment to, but this is by no means enough to justify such a massive price gap when the two devices are so functionality similar.
Then there are conveniences like a built-in battery and better weight distribution on the Quest 3, while the Vision Pro requires a separate and somewhat unwieldy battery pack to power up and is heavier on the head. This is, of course, to say nothing of the more mature platform that Quest offers, both for games and wider virtual reality experiences.
Suffice to say, the Vision Pro won’t be dethroning the Quest 3 when it comes to gaming anytime soon. However, it is still very much early days for Apple in the VR space, and we could quickly see the value of its headset radically transform over the coming years, if not months.
With Apple investing more heavily into bringing PC games to Mac and technologies like its MetalFX upscaler, it only makes sense that the company would also make a play at virtual reality gaming. Of course, this is all dependent on whether the Vision Pro is a success in the first place, with all the caveats that come with being a first generation product.
For more on virtual reality, check out our picks of the best Meta Quest 3 games or our Quest 3 review if you’re yet to pick up a headset.