Meta Reportedly Developing a High-End Quest Pro Successor and Quest 4

The Meta Quest Pro didn’t quite capture the prosumer market as expected, prompting Meta to phase out this mixed reality headset a bit over two years after its launch. According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Meta isn’t just working on the Quest 3 for consumers, but there’s also a “high-end” model in the pipeline that might take over where the Quest Pro left off.

In his latest newsletter, Gurman delves into the XR scene, highlighting everything from Meta’s plans to add displays to its next Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, to rumors about Apple scaling back production of its $3,500 Vision Pro due to dwindling demand.

Insider tips reveal that Meta is developing both the Quest 4 VR goggles and a sophisticated model that may eventually serve as the Quest Pro’s successor.

Rolling out in late 2022, the Quest Pro was a significant leap from the earlier consumer-centric headsets Meta produced, which typically had a price point around $300.

Initially hitting the market at $1,500, the ‘Pro’ version boasted features like color-passthrough, pancake lenses, and both face and eye tracking—enhancements over its sibling, the Quest 2. Yet, in less than five months, Meta slashed its price to $1,000, hoping to draw in more prosumers.

Fast forward to July 2023, The Information released a piece suggesting Meta was ending the Quest Pro series. However, Meta CTO and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth quickly rebuffed the claim with a candid “don’t believe everything you read.”

A follow-up report from The Information in July 2024 described Meta’s shift towards crafting a lightweight mixed reality device, resembling “a bulky pair of glasses,” codenamed ‘Puffin’ and eyeing a 2027 launch. Alongside this, Meta aims to unveil a pair of AR glasses around 2030, akin to their Orion AR glasses prototype.

Soon after, The Information reported that the Quest Pro 2 prototype, codenamed ‘La Jolla’, had been shelved. Bosworth later confirmed they canceled La Jolla but noted that development continued on Puffin, leaving open questions about the future of the Quest Pro line.

Meta’s strategy often involves launching and retiring prototypes as part of their exploration-first approach, as Bosworth previously mentioned. Determining where projects like the Quest Pro 2 stand in this experimentation cycle is challenging, making it hard to discern if such stops and starts are mere steps or stops permanently.

When addressing the rumors about the Quest Pro’s cancellation, Bosworth added a touch of mystery, “there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what’s been stopped or started.”