Per editor: Bi Lu Ming
On Wednesday, September 27, Eastern time, Meta released new blockbuster headsets and smart glasses during the annual developer conference Connect, and announced that all its apps were blessed by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. This means that Meta's 3 billion users will have an experience similar to that offered by the OpenAI bot ChatGPT. Specifically, Meta's AI assistant will land on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, as well as dozens of AI characters based on celebrities such as influencers such as influencers MrBeast and Charli D'Amelio.
Meta's AI assistant can edit images, design trips with friends in chat groups for users, and answer questions that users typically query search engines to solve. Meta has also launched a development studio that allows brands to build their own AI tools based on Meta's messaging service.
Meta's release of a new generation of VR headsets comes as it faces an imminent battle with Apple in this area. Many in the tech industry believe that Apple's foray into VR could expand the entire market, just as the iPhone drove the phone.
Apple released its first headset, Vision Pro, in June this year, which is much more expensive than Meta's device, starting at a whopping $3499, and is expected to be available early next year.
AS OF THE U.S. STOCK MARKET CLOSE ON WEDNESDAY, META CLOSED AT $297.74, DOWN 0.41%, WITH A TOTAL MARKET VALUE OF $766.1 BILLION.
Meta officially released Quest 3
Before Apple's mixed reality headset Vision Pro went on sale early next year, Meta released an upgraded version of the headset, which increased in price by nearly seventy percent over the previous generation. Even if the price increases, the price is much lower than the Vision Pro's $3499, which is expected to "harvest" a wave of the market during this year's holiday shopping season.
On Wednesday (September 27), local time, Meta officially released the highly anticipated new generation of VR headset Quest 3 at its Connect developer conference. Meta teased the device in early June this year.
Starting at $499, the Quest 3 is $200 more expensive than its predecessor and will begin pre-order Wednesday and ship Oct. 10.
Image source: Meta official website
According to reports, the Quest 3 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip, which is based on the Arm architecture and is closer to a mobile processor than a PC processor in terms of power consumption and energy consumption. Quest 3 delivers twice the processing power of Quest 2, improved graphics rendering, smoother operations, and faster loading applications.
In terms of display, the resolution reached 2064 x 2208 monocular, which is nearly 30% higher than the previous generation monocular 1832×1920 resolution.
Because of the Pancake lens, the Quest 3 is 40% thinner than the Quest 2, and it weighs 515 grams, which is slightly heavier than the Quest 2's 503 grams. Meta said it changed the design to make it more comfortable for users to wear. At the same time, Meta has also added improved speakers and new controllers. The Quest 3 has three sensors on the front, the left and right modules are cameras, and the center sensor is a new component that determines the position of objects and walls in the user's room. This allows the device to automatically set up virtual guardrails, preventing users from hitting the table.
In terms of configuration, the Quest 3 is equipped with a higher-comm faster Snapdragon XR2 second-generation processor with 8GB of RAM. Meta says the Quest 3 delivers twice the graphics performance of the Quest 2 and even much better than the Quest Pro running a generation XR2 chip.
Palwasha Khatri, product manager at the Quest 3, said the device "doesn't require wires and no battery pack." Some media said that this rhetoric shows that Meta is trying to position the product as a more mainstream MR headset.
In addition, at Wednesday's conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also introduced consumer-facing generative artificial intelligence (AI) products, including a chatbot called Meta AI that can generate both text responses and photorealistic images. Zuckerberg said: "An important part of this innovation is to make sure that everyone has access to these technologies. He stressed the importance of creating innovative products that are affordable to all.
Meta AI is based on the powerful Llama 2 large-scale language model, which was released in July this year for public commercial use. Zuckerberg said that the chatbot will get real-time information through cooperation with Microsoft's Bing search engine.
Image source: Visual China
It was revealed that it teamed up with LG to catch up with Apple's Vision Pro
Meta signed a confidentiality agreement (NDA) with LG Electronics to develop advanced headsets, with the goal of launching in 2025, according to Pulse News, an English-language website affiliated with South Korean media Maekyung Media on September 9. A person familiar with the matter also said: "This will be the highest-end product in the Meta headset series Quest. ”
"If LG Electronics successfully completes development, the company can take care of mass production." "Since the product belongs to the high-end category in the AR and VR product line, it is likely to be named the Meta Quest 4 Pro."
At the same time, Pulse has now confirmed this fact to LG internal employees, but based on the confidentiality agreement, LG internal employees can only hint: "We are developing relevant MR (mixed reality) devices, as we announced in our vision of the future that connects various spaces." "We can't reveal our partners at this time."
In fact, the cooperation between Meta and LG may have been early, Meta executives have previously visited LG's Science Park in Seoul, met with executives of LG Display research team, and Meta executives also visited the Samsung Display Giheung R&D Center, which was seeking cooperation on AR/VR high-resolution display solutions. Meta is more likely to see LG Display's advanced technology advantages in the screen industry.
It is also reported that Samsung decided to revisit the specifications and design of its XR headset, which led to the delay in the launch of this headset. Samsung's new XR headset was originally expected to be launched in February 2024, but it has now been delayed by 3~6 months, and it was originally planned to start mass production of its XR headset in early 2024, and production has also been delayed.
Daily economic news comprehensive Meta official website, CaiLian News, China Business News
Daily economic news