Meta will partner with external hardware companies, including Lenovo, Microsoft and Asus, to build virtual reality headsets using the company's Meta Horizon operating system.Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the Meta Connect event at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 27, 2023.
The move further defines the fault lines of the virtual reality hardware market, months after Apple released its $3,500 virtual reality headset calledVR product will remain pricier, and vertically integrated, but it will have to compete against a range of different hardware devices at different prices, all running atop Meta's operating system.
The decision to make its operating system available to hardware partners also lines up with Meta's stated strategic reasoning for spending billions of dollars per quarter on virtual reality technology inside its Reality Labs division. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Meta. Zuckerberg has said that the company is trying to develop a next-generation platform in virtual and augmented reality, with a Meta-controlled app store, so that Apple can't reject its apps or charge fees.
"If they're up for it, our philosophy is that we want you to be able to run the content on Quest or any Meta Horizon operating system headset," Zuckerberg said.