Meta unveils new headset Quest Pro, partnership with Microsoft

Meta Platforms has unveiled its new VR headset, Meta Quest Pro, during its annual developer conference held on October 11.

The Quest Pro is packed with high-res sensors for mixed reality experiences, LCD displays, eye tracking and Natural Facial Expressions to help avatars reflect users more naturally in VR. Priced at US$1,499, the new device is almost four times the price of Meta’s current headset, the Quest 2, which costs US$399.

The company said the Quest Pro will be the first in the entry in Meta’s new high-end line of devices. 

Its display is about 40 per cent thinner than that of its predecessors thanks to a pancake lens. The battery has been moved from inside the display to the back of the headset to improve its balance.

The Quest Pro is powered by the Snapdragon XR+ Gen 1, which is Qualcomm’s latest chip. It promises 50 per cent performance improvement compared with the XR+ in the Quest 2 headset and about 30 per cent thermal improvement. It has 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, supports USB Type-C high-speed charging, and has a docking station that can charge the device and controller at the same time.

During the Meta Connect 2022 developer conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also announced a partnership between the two companies in the XR field.

Tools such as Microsoft’s Teams chat application and Microsoft 365 solution will be compatible with the Quest Pro and the Quest 2, and Meta’s Horizon Workrooms VR conferencing tool will be able to join meetings in Teams. Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint included in Microsoft 365 can be used directly from the Quest Pro and the Quest 2. They will also collaborate in the gaming field.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg expressed his intention to position the Quest Pro as a device for business use, and said the company might establish virtual offices in the future through a partnership with Microsoft.

The Quest Pro will be available for purchase on October 25. Pre-orders can be made at the Meta Store in all countries where Quest products are sold. It will also be available from Amazon in the U.S., the U.K., Canada and France.