Meta’s most recent product announcements have grabbed attention, but the one thing they could not hide is that it’s still not possible to build a system as sophisticated as Apple’s Vision Pro at an affordable price, or Meta would have done it. You could argue that at $1,299, the Meta VR Glasses the company introduced last week and promised to ship in spring 2027 could be as sophisticated, but they do betray some significant design compromises that Apple seems to have avoided.
What happened
Meta’s most recent product announcements have grabbed attention, but the one thing they could not hide is that it’s still not possible to build a system as sophisticated as Apple’s Vision Pro at an affordable price, or Meta would have done it.
Where the sources line up
You could argue that at $1,299, the Meta VR Glasses the company introduced last week and promised to ship in spring 2027 could be as sophisticated, but they do betray some significant design compromises that Apple seems to have avoided.
Practical impact for readers
The most glaring compromise is the use of a puck to carry the processor and battery, so the glasses weigh just 100 grams. Even now, a recent Bloomberg report tells us that senior Apple decision makers have resisted use of an external puck to help reduce the weight and cost of future Vision Pro models, holding steady to the fully integrated device model typical of Apple’s products. (While Apple will have its reasons, I’m not certain that’s the correct approach, as the company could effectively sell two products, the headset and the puck, making both systems available on a biennial upgrade.
Who should pay attention now
At the same time, the competition between the two firms hints at the technological barriers Apple is trying to solve. After all this time since the introduction of the first Vision Pro , Meta still can’t match the field of view, and even with a puck rather than an integrated build, its alternative still costs a fair bit of cash, while the processor it plans to power the glasses with isn’t even available yet.
What is still unclear
Think about that. It means Meta and its partners are still building a processor with which to match Apple’s. If that’s not a technical challenge, I don’t know what is.
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