Facebook is thought to be working on a successor to the Oculus Quest wireless VR headset, and in the process making it smaller and lighter.
As Bloomberg reports, people familiar with the matter claim the social network's Oculus division is currently working on several different prototypes in a bid to select the best replacement for the Quest. Key goals include offering a 10-15 percent smaller headset that's also lighter and offers a faster image refresh rate. We should also expect the controllers it ships with to use an updated design.
The Oculus Quest was launched in April last year and PCMag found it to be an excellent VR headset, offering six-degrees-of-freedom motion tracking, two controllers, with no wires to get in the way of playing some great games. The only downside of the Quest is the fact it's less powerful and has a lower refresh rate than high-end tethered headsets. Clearly Facebook is trying to remove that con with this new design, while at the same time attempting to keep the weight down to about one pound (the Quest weighs roughly 1.25 pounds).
Facebook was expecting to launch this new Oculus headset in time for the next Oculus Connect conference near the end of the year, but then the coronavirus pandemic happened. It's now more likely the new hardware will ship in 2021 after supply chains fully recover and Oculus employees aren't all working from home anymore.
Further Reading
- HTC Launches Vive Sync for VR Video Chats
- Magic Leap Lays Off 1,000 Employees as Funding Dries Up
- Valve Blames Coronavirus for 'Far Fewer' Index VR Headsets
- HTC Tips VR Headsets With Interchangeable Faceplates, Teases Proton XR Glasses
- More in VR