Meta just held their annual Connect Developers Conference, but unlike last year this connect actually included new hardware. We can now say, although we have had months and months of leaks (and even an in-depth look at a pre-release unit) that Meta has been building a significant upgrade to the Quest family. The Meta Quest Pro, in line with the leaks, boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 5G, Dual 2160 x 2160 OLED panels, and a brand new inside-out tracking system that includes both eye and face tracking.
The biggest change comes from the new next-gen controllers that, instead of being tracked by the headset, contain their own camera array that allows them to orient themselves in space solving the problem of controller occlusion as they don't need line of sight with the headset or lighthouses.
Seeing as the industry is only just now starting to catch up to Quest with their own standalone hardware only time will tell if this device will be what Meta needs to keep their lead but with a closed ecosystem and a clear trend of "cancel hardware and lock it out of future use by removing functionality" who knows if people will continue to want to keep clinging to the remains of Oculus or if there are greener pastures with others. At $1499 though, it's a bit of a leap.
Meta also announced changes to its Horizon Platform. Realizing how low-fi the app has been Meta announced today a few significant upgrades like the ability to import Tri-mesh objects, access Unreal Prefabs, and even use typescript to add powerful scripting to your created worlds. The biggest change comes from the ability to access the platform from the web, supposedly on any device. I wonder if this will be enough to break Horizon from its slump as a dead platform or if it will continue to be a ghost town.... just a prettier ghost town.
