The future just got a little closer to the present. At Meta Connect, Mark Zuckerberg joined leaders from Reality Labs at Meta and a few special guests to showcase progress in making the metaverse a reality.
We highlighted the incredible success of Meta Quest 2, discussed how virtual reality is becoming more social, and showcased innovations for fitness, gaming and work. We also revealed Meta Quest Pro, a breakthrough device that’s bringing the physical and digital worlds one giant step closer together.
Introducing Meta Quest Pro
In recent years, we’ve shared a few details about our next VR device, which we called Project Cambria. Now we’re dropping the codename and introducing Meta Quest Pro.
Meta Quest Pro is the first in a new line of advanced headsets built to expand the possibilities of virtual and mixed reality. Its pancake lenses fold light over several times, reducing the size of the headset while showing sharper visuals. A new, curved battery on the back helps make Meta Quest Pro a more balanced and ergonomic headset overall.
High-resolution outward-facing cameras capture four times as many pixels as Meta Quest 2 and make Meta Quest Pro our first full-colour mixed reality device. Imagine the possibilities when the physical and digital worlds can finally interact seamlessly, without you craning your neck to look down at a phone.
It’s also the first headset we’ve built that integrates inward-facing sensors to capture natural facial expressions and eye tracking. Raise an eyebrow, smile or simply make eye contact with someone, and your avatar will do the same. All of this helps improve social presence — the feeling that you’re right there together with someone no matter where in the world you are.
New partnerships to advance the future of work
Meta Quest Pro was designed with productivity in mind and will be a major upgrade for those who use VR as a tool for work, but hardware is only part of the equation. We’re equally focused on creating and supporting software that improves the way you work.
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella joined Zuckerberg to announce a new partnership that will bring powerful new work and productivity tools to Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 next year, including apps for Microsoft Windows 365 and Microsoft Teams and the ability to join a Teams meeting from inside Meta Horizon Workrooms.
New social experiences in VR and beyond
When Meta Quest 2 launched two years ago, the majority of people’s time in VR was spent alone. Now, the majority is spent in multiplayer and social apps.
Meta announced the development Meta Horizon Worlds on the web so you can eventually pick up your phone or laptop and visit friends who are hanging out in VR, and vice versa. We also announced new social innovations we’re working on with the YouTube VR team. If you’re hanging out with friends in Meta Horizon Home, you’ll soon be able to watch YouTube videos together.
We previewed our next generation of Meta Avatars that will be more expressive and detailed — and announced full-body avatars in VR, starting in Meta Horizon Worlds. Outside of VR, we’re bringing avatars to video chat, starting in Messenger and WhatsApp, so you can express yourself and react without turning your camera on.
Reality Labs research updates
Beyond everything we announced today, we also shared updates on our research toward the foundational technologies for future devices and the metaverse, including:
- Our work to use artificial intelligence and electromyography to create more intuitive, human-centered interfaces
- Project Aria and our partnership with Carnegie Mellon University to help people with visual impairments better navigate their surroundings indoors
- Two technologies to build and manipulate 3D objects in the metaverse: neural radiance fields and inverse rendering
- Photorealistic Codec Avatars, including more robust facial expressions and Instant Codec Avatars that are faster and easier to make
With Reality Labs, we’re inventing a new computing platform — one built around people, connections and the relationships that matter.
Read more Meta Connect news in the posts below:
- Meta Quest Pro: Built with Privacy in Mind
- Presence Platform Introduces New Developer Tools for Meta Quest Pro
- Games at Connect 2022: ‘Marvel’s Iron Man VR,’ Xbox Cloud Gaming, an ‘Among Us VR’ Release Date, and More
