Meta Will Let Other Companies Create Mixed Reality Headsets Using its Meta Horizon OS

Meta dropped some pretty big news today that may well shake up the VR market. The company said that it will allow Lenovo, Asus, and other partners to use its Meta Horizon OS to create new mixed reality devices that will compete with the company’s own Quest headsets.

“We believe a more open ecosystem is the best way to bring the power of mixed reality to as many people as possible,” the company said today. “With more devices, this new ecosystem will offer more choice to consumers and businesses around the world. Developers will have a much larger range of hardware that can run their apps, and more device makers will expand their market to a wider range of users, much like we’ve seen with PCs and smartphones.”

Meta is currently dominating the VR market with its affordable Quest headsets, which now start at $199 thanks to a second permanent price cut on the Meta Quest 2. The company also has mixed reality headset with the $499 Quest 3, and it’s also competing at the high-end of the market with the $999 Meta Quest Pro. Still, Zuckerberg recently said that the cheaper Quest 3 was better than Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset.

Meta detailed today what to expect from the first third-party products built with Meta Horizon OS. There will be a new “all-new performance gaming headset” from Asus ROG, while Lenovo will be developing “mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment. Microsoft, however, will team up with Meta to “create a limited-edition Meta Quest, inspired by Xbox.” This will follow the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming on Meta Quest headsets last year.

You may remember that Microsoft tried to create its own VR hardware and software ecosystem with Windows Mixed Reality, a platform that’s recently been deprecated on Windows 11. The company said last year that it was still committed to mixed reality and its HoloLens 2 headset, which has one big customer with the US Army. However, the company never released a consumer version of the $3,499 headset, which is the price of the Apple Vision Pro.

Meta will likely have more success than Microsoft at creating a successful mixed reality headset, as it already has a mature platform with solid developer support. The company also announced today that it will make it easier for developers to release apps on the Meta Horizon Store.