In the next months, we're likely to see Meta's Quest 3 and 2 sales going up. And that's due to the release of Apple Vision Pro.
My summary of this week's feeds (YouTube, News, Social) is that "with Quest 3 you get 80% of what Apple Vision Pro offers at 15% of the price".
I have watched and read quite a few reviews and there's a lot of emotion. Mostly positive, people are surprised by the level of execution and praise the unprecedented capabilities. Yet when it comes to comparisons the reviewers don't have many options to mention - in most cases, it's Quest 3. Just like Apple's headset it is
- a standalone device that works without a computer (other headsets come from the VR gaming world),
- has best-in-class image sharpness/quality (had until recently),
- has avatars of the user,
- supports gesture controls,
- supports virtual desktops (with Meta's app and several 3rd parties)
- has decent passthrough as default mode (making it a true MR).
Quest 3 (and even older 2) seems to have all the features of Vision Pro, and even more (such as supporting more platforms, many apps, and content). It's just the hardware is inferior, and the interoperability with Android/Windows comes with more friction and less out-of-the-box experience (the "Apple Magic"). Upon contemplating the subject of autonomous versatile MR headsets with rich ecosystems - until recently there were only Meta devices. And now there's a 2nd entrant to the market.
What Apple just did was a huge advertising campaign for VR/MR. And it went viral. Most people will look at those Apple Vision Pro reviews and opinions (which are hard not to come by) and think "Well, that's interesting". The next step would be researching the options and making the comparisons. And many will think "OK, Quest 3 gives all the same features. Apparently they are not as premium/good, but with $500 vs $3500 I can give a try of Meta's headset".
The MR/VR idea has recently been put in the heads of many people, and some of those will (re)considering joining the trend. And some might choose to accept (and buy Quest 3 as I just did).