Meta Connect, The company that runs Facebook and Instagram’s big developer event and hardware announcement is taking place today. Metadata will likely introduce new virtual reality and mixed reality tech, polish its meandering hyperspace ambitions, and delve into all the new ways it plans to embrace artificial intelligence into every corner of equipment and services.
The event takes place today, Wednesday, September 25, starting at 10 a.m. PT. The keynote, where most of the new content will be announced, will be live-streamed. The event will be hosted by Meta CEO and upstart Mark Zuckerberg. Zuck’s hour-long presentation will be followed by a developer-focused keynote at 11 a.m. led by Meta CTO and Reality Labs head Andrew Bosworth. You can watch the events on Meta Connect Website or on Meta YouTube Channel. And yes, you can also watch it in VR in Meta Horizon.
The focus of the event will likely be on the combination of Meta’s mixed reality efforts and the company’s AI ambitions across its entire product line. As with any tech event, there are bound to be surprises. Here are the big ones to watch out for.
MetaVision blur
One thing Meta probably won’t announce is a very expensive headset. That’s a move informed by where the mixed reality market is right now—and whether people actually want to spend that much money on one. Instead, there’s been a lot of talk about what’s called Meta 3S MissionA headset that could be a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3 with lighter features.
Meta was a giant in the AR/VR space 10 years ago when Meta (then Facebook) bought VR company Oculus. Soon after, Facebook changed its name to Meta and went dark. 45 billion dollars into its vision of a digital universe that most people only don’t seem to care much. Workplaces that do not use Meta Horizon Office so much—all of us still on Zoom—and despite the initial headaches the company was experiencing, land grab For digital real estate, users don’t really want to move into the world of metadata.
Other companies have struggled to find their footing in virtual reality. Apple released its first mixed reality headset, priced at $3,500. Apple Vision Proin February. Since then, the product has been seen as a rare misstep for the company, or at least very clearly a first-generation product not intended for the masses. The device not selling well and was widely criticized as expensive, heavyand finally lonely experience. (Apple only mentioned Vision Pro once, when talking about its optimism iPhone launch event on September 9.)
If the Vision Pro is successful, Meta may be inclined to pursue the more expensive premium VR headset category. In August, The Information reported that Meta appears to have abandoned—or at least delayed—plans to unveil an update to its Oculus Quest Pro, which would have put it in competition with Apple’s Vision Pro. Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, responded to that news on Meta’s Threads platform and insists the move isn’t a big deal, but rather a natural part of the company’s device iterations. Still, it’s a meaningful move after the Apple Vision Pro flopped.
