Mark Zuckerberg
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg got back in the proverbial Silicon Valley trenches this week when he shared a methodical takedown of the new Apple Vision Pro VR headset, the shiniest and newest toy in tech.
It’s unexpected to see such a powerful figure in Tech take to his social media channels to call out a competitor’s inferior product and it’s also refreshing to see it happen.
Zuckerberg says he, like everyone, fully expected the Meta Quest 3 VR headset to be the “better value” because it’s 7x more affordable than the Apple Vision Pro which costs $3,500. But what he found, and what others have echoed on Instagram and Threads, is the Meta Quest 3 isn’t just a better value but it’s an overall better headset. The Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO said “I don’t just think that Quest is the better value, I think Quest is the better product, period.”
As Mark Zuckerberg says, there’s no denying the Quest 3 has a vastly superior “immersive” content library due to the lead time developers have had making content for Meta’s VR headsets. He also believes the actual physical product is superior with physical controllers providing more functionality than eye tracking.
So many of us are guilty of falling into the Apple Trap of beautiful product design and a familiar UX (OS) atmosphere. They’ve been winning for decades for reasons that can’t be summarize in a few sentences but product design has definitely been a huge factor in their success.
There’s no denying the Apple Vision Pro looks impressive. For $3,499 it better be. And it sounds like they’ve released an incredible VR headset but earlier this week there were reports it would take 4 generations for the Apple Vision Pro to reach its ideal form.
That’s not to say they released an unfinished or incomplete product, but Apple is clearly playing catchup to Meta’s Quest 3 which honestly, I’d considered purchasing the Apple Vision Pro because I’d fallen victim to the hype but now it’s clear I should buy a Quest 3 and reconsidered the Vision Pro in a few years. At $499, it’s a MUCH more enticing option.