According to a recent report by Information, Meta is reportedly phasing out Quest Pro alongside a broader decision to completely cancel the future “Pro” line of XR hardware. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says however, “don’t believe everything you read.”
Meta reportedly stopped ordering new components for the Quest Pro from its suppliers, Information maintains. While Meta is believed to continue selling its $1,000 Pro-branded mixed reality headset as long as there is enough stock, the report alleges the entire Pro line has been put on hold, putting a second-gen Quest Pro clearly out of the question.
Speaking in a Posting Instagram Stories yesterday, Bosworth chastised the claim that a potential Quest Pro 2 has officially been canceled for good, saying his team is developing multiple prototypes in parallel for all of its projects. Notably, it doesn’t specify if it’s the current version of Quest Pro, but it does hint that the report of Quest Pro 2’s disappearance is the result of a disgruntled employee whose project was terminated.
Here is Bosworth’s statement in full:
“I have to explain this every year. There’s no Quest Pro 2 headset until we decide. What I mean by that is that there are a lot of headset prototypes – lots of them – all in development in parallel. Some of them, we say, “this is not the right one”, and we close it. Some of them, we say, “this is the one”, and we spin it around. What you have to understand is that until he comes out, he doesn’t get the name. So there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you this, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what has been stopped or started. Often this comes from someone who is unhappy that their particular project was cut when there are other projects that weren’t cut.
Still, it’s clear there’s been some turbulence in the way Quest Pro has been handled from the get-go. Originally launched for $1,500 in October 2022, Meta decided a few months later that it reduce Quest Pro by $500, putting its price at $1,000 today. Meanwhile, Quest 2 has seen several price changes, ranging from $300 to $400 for the same 128GB variant.
Fluctuating prices aside, Quest Pro purpose was never really clearly defined, as the company nebulously presented it to professionals as a potential job position. In practice, Quest Pro has been more of a development kit for studios hoping to build consumer apps for the cheaper Quest 3, coming fall 2023 at $500. Meanwhile, Quest Pro users have reported a host of usability issues since its launch, making it decidedly a little less ready for prime time than the company probably hoped.
Either way, Quest Pro 2 would need a much clearer value proposition, provided the prototypes Meta is waiting on behind the scenes aren’t cut either.
