Meta’s new VR headset isn’t really a headset and doesn’t look like it’s meant for gamers

Meta has announced a new virtual reality headset, complete with Micro-OLED displays, pancake lenses, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chip. Except it’s not a new Quest. It’s not even much of a headset. It’s a pair of glasses. Oddly compact virtual reality glasses. With hand tracking. And AI. Don’t forget AI.

Announced at Meta Connect, the new Meta VR Glasses are “five times lighter” than the Quest 3. That’s a touch over 100 grams. That’s roughly on par with the Bigscreen Beyond 2 at 107 grams; however, Meta’s come with an additional tethered puck weighing in at 300 grams.

The puck contains the Snapdragon chip (XR2 Gen 3), 12 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, and a battery that should last around three hours. The glasses contain the pancake lenses, displays, and sensors.

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The optics are powered by two Micro-OLED displays, at 2412 x 2288, 120 Hz, and 37 pixels per degree (PPD). The Quest 3 offers 25 PPD and the Pimax Dream Air, also with Micro-OLED, offers 53 PPD. So that’s pretty good. What’s not so good is the 70 degree field of view. That’s according to Road to VR’s Scott Hayden, who notes the passthrough is excellent.

You can see what the experience with these is like from Meta’s demonstration on stage, filmed by our sister site, TechRadar. One thing that’s pretty clear from a lot of this is that, despite the VR branding, it’s much more an XR experience. Akin to the Apple Vision Pro, but I guess also where the Quest has been going with the new interface. You can also get a look at the AI assistant built into these specs, which Meta says you can “just talk to” to play movies, open apps, etc.

The VR Glasses support hand tracking. Meta has already published a list of games that are launching or being updated with hand tracking support by the time they arrive, including Beat Saber, Two Point Hospital, and Tetris Effect: Mixed Realities. Though Touch Plus controllers are supported—the same ones used by Quest headsets—none are included in the box.

Sean On Tech had a go with the glasses at the event and suggests there’s also a heads-up keyboard, projected in front of the user when required. He’s very complimentary of it, suggesting he can type at near full speed.

Here’s the kicker, then. Meta’s VR Glasses will cost $1,300 at launch this coming spring. Whatever the plan may be with a Quest 4, I’d sure hope it’s cheaper than that.