Meta announced the Quest Pro mixed reality headset aimed at enterprise and professional markets at its Meta Connect 2022 conference.
The company will offer the Quest Pro alongside the existing, cheaper Quest 2. According to Meta directs The new Quest Pro is aimed at professional users and businesses who might justify a higher price. The Quest Pro, formerly known as Project Cambria, is thinner than the Quest 2. It attaches to the head with a padded plastic ring, while the battery has been moved to the back for better balance. The new "pancake" lenses are 40 % thinner than the Quest 2. The company says its optics technology "folds" light inside the optical module. The Quest Pro uses color transmission from four high-resolution cameras on the headset to capture and display a person's surroundings while they wear the device. The Quest 2, on the other hand, only has a black-and-white version of this technology.
Meta: Quest Pro features eye-tracking technology
This feature is designed to help capture "mixed reality" experiences, where digital content is overlaid on the environment rather than being limited to virtual reality. Unlike the Quest 2, the Quest Pro has eye-tracking technology with inward-facing cameras. Meta says they help detect if the headset is on correctly and enable facial expressions with meta avatars. The headset uses a Snapdragon XR2+ chipset with an 1800 x 1920 LCD panel for each eye, four times the size of the Quest 2. Meta says these displays offer 75% more contrast and 10% more pixels per degree of visibility than the Quest 2.
New mixed reality headset for $1,499
Additionally, it highlighted that the 50 % chip delivers more power than the XR2 chip in the Quest 2. The Quest Pro has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, 12 sensors for virtual reality and mixed reality, and spatial audio. The higher performance does have a downside. Meta says the Quest Pro only has one to two hours of battery life, instead of the two to three hours the Quest 2 achieved. The redesigned controllers for the new headset do away with the tracking rings of the Quest 2 and use integrated cameras that track the position of each controller in relation to the Quest Pro headset.
Each controller is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 mobile processor. Meta sells the Quest Pro through its Meta Store for $1,499 and through retail partners in four countries. (Image: Meta)
