TECH NEWS – Could Mark Zuckerberg’s company be stepping back from hardware design to approach VR headsets from the software side?
The Meta Quest 3 is considered a pretty decent VR headset, but The Information reported that Zuck and company may be looking in a different direction, if an employee of Chinese manufacturer Goertek (and two people who work at Meta) are to be believed. The first person works for a company that manufactures and tests the Meta Quest. Meta hopes that by 2030, Goertek and other manufacturers will be playing a bigger role in the design and creation, and even full development, of headsets.
Meta wants to move away from hardware production and focus on software, which can generate much higher profits for the technology company. Hardware is often cheap and readily available, much like Meta’s headset, but the company sells it at a loss to make up for the lack of software. We’ve repeatedly seen that Reality Labs, Meta’s VR and AR division, spends up to $1 billion a month. Instead, the company prefers to outsource the operating system and the Meta Quest storefront to third parties.
Of course, these are just three employee statements, so you never know what management will ultimately decide, and Meta’s vision of what the company should ultimately be doing could change quickly. “Borrowing” the software is not a bad idea, as this is what is holding back competitors (e.g. Pico 4 Ultra). Many people are familiar with Meta’s operating system, which is why Google’s Android is so successful. If a new manufacturer enters the market and uses Android, the user will easily adapt to it.
Meta would move half of its production from China to Vietnam, one of the results of the trade war between the U.S. and China, and Zuck’s company would get out of the tariffs on Chinese imports. Maybe something will come of it, maybe not.
Source: PCGamer
