Meta Announces Cheaper VR Headset, New AI Features, and "The Most Advanced Pair of AR Glasses" Ever
Sadly for those eager to strap Meta's technology to their face and go out into the world, the Orion AR glasses are only a prototype.
Meta, the parent company behind social network giant Facebook, has announced it is pushing further into virtual reality and augmented reality (VR and AR) wearables with the launch of the Meta Quest 3S VR headset and a teaser for "the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made" — while also announcing new features for its large language model (LLM) driven artificial intelligence (AI) offerings.
"Five years ago, we announced to the world that we were building AR glasses. We don’t think people should have to make the choice between a world of information at your fingertips and being present in the physical world around you," Meta claims of its presentation this week at its Meta Connect conference. "That’s why today, we’re unveiling Orion, which we believe is the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made. Orion bridges the physical and virtual worlds, putting people at the center so they can be more present, connected and empowered in the world."
Orion, Meta admits, "won't make its way into the hands of consumers," but the company also claims that it's far from a research prototype. "It's one of the most polished product prototypes we’ve ever developed," the company boasts, "and is truly representative of something that could ship to consumers. Rather than rushing to put it on shelves, we decided to focus on internal development first, which means we can keep building quickly and continue to push the boundaries of the technology, helping us arrive at an even better consumer product faster."
The chunky glasses, looking more Joe 90 than high fashion, connect to a lozenge-shaped central computing system and a wrist-worn bracelet. The lenses project what Meta calls "holographic displays" mixing your choice of two- and three-dimensional content, delivering what the company claims is the largest field of view from any AR headset. Naturally, it's linked in to the company's Meta AI platform — using multimodal models to respond to natural-language queries and analyze video captured by its integrated cameras.
While it's likely to be a few years before anything based on the Orion platform hits retail, Meta also announced something that's ready to launch: the Meta Quest 3S, a cost-reduced version of the Meta Quest 3 virtual and mixed reality headset — which lowers the price to $299.99, while the Meta Quest 3 with its higher-resolution display panels and larger storage capacity sees a price cut to $499.99.
Also during Connect, Meta announced improvements to the Meta AI platform: the Llama 3.2 model is now being used to drive new multimodal features, analyzing supplied photos and even driving a generative AI system that allows photos to be edited using natural language instructions. The company also unveiled a new translation tool for its Reels video platform, chatbot functionality for business users, and its biggest change yet: voice-driven conversation, with the AI replying to spoken queries in AI-generated impressions of celebrities including Awkwafina, Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Keegan Michael Key, and Kristen Bell.
The new AI features are now live on Meta's platforms, and the Meta Quest 3S is available to pre-order on the company's official store; while the Orion AR headset is being rolled out internally at Meta, though, the company has not yet suggested a timescale to commercialization.