Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has affirmed that Meta’s next virtual reality headset will come in October.
Zuckerberg remarked on Joe Rogan’s podcast, indicating that the device — almost definitely the headset codenamed “Project Cambria” — will likely launch near the company’s annual Connect event.
“For the next gadget that’s coming out in October, there are a few big features,” Zuckerberg said, discussing V.R. at the beginning of the podcast. He described new social options enabled by eye and facial tracking.
“The ability to now have eye contact in virtual reality,” Zuckerberg said as part of the feature list. “Have your face be tracked so that your avatar — it’s not just this still thing, but if you smile or frown or pout, or whatever your expression is, have that translate in real-time to your avatar.”
That agrees with what we know of Project Cambria, which is believed to have a high-resolution color screen, internal sensors for eye tracking, and straight pass-through augmented reality. As Bloomberg reported last month, leaked code suggests the device could be called the Meta Quest Pro.
Whatever it’s eventually called, Cambria will sit alongside the lower-end Meta Quest — although Meta is reportedly already planning its next generation of both headsets. In addition, it’s different from a still-nascent lineup of Meta augmented reality glasses.
Cambria is considered to be “significantly” more expensive than the current Quest, which recently got a price hike to $399. However, meta had previously stated that the device would be released sometime this year.
Meta Platforms, Inc., accomplishing trade as Meta and formerly called Facebook, Inc., and TheFacebook, Inc., is an American global technology alliance based in Menlo Park, California. The company possesses Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, among other products and services.
Meta is one of the globe’s most profitable companies. It is believed to be one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft.
Meta’s products and services contain Facebook Watch, Facebook, Messenger, and Meta Portal. It has also formulated Giphy, Mapillary, Oculus, Kustomer, and Presize and has a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms. In 2021, the company developed 97.5% of its earnings from the sale of advertising.
In October 2021, the parent institution of Facebook altered its name from Facebook, Inc., to Meta Platforms, Inc., to “recall its focus on building the metaverse.” The “metaverse” refers to the integrated domain that links all of the company’s products and services.
Facebook pointed out an initial public offering (IPO) on January 1, 2012. The preliminary prospectus noted that the company sought to raise $5 billion, owned 845 million monthly active users, and a site accruing 2.7 billion likes and comments daily. After the IPO, Zuckerberg would hold a 22% ownership share in Facebook and own 57% of the voting shares.
Underwriters appreciated the shares at $38 each, cherishing the company at $104 billion, the most influential valuation for a newly public company. One day before the IPO, on May 16, Facebook revealed it would sell 25% more shares than initially scheduled due to high demand.
As a result, the IPO raised $16 billion, completing it the third-largest U.S. in history. The stock price exited the company with a higher market capitalization than all but rare U.S. corporations—surpassing heavyweights like McDonald’s, Amazon, Disney, and Kraft Foods—and earned Zuckerberg’s stock worth $19 billion.
The New York Times noted that the offering overcame questions about Facebook’s problems, drawing advertisers to change the company into a “must-own stock.” Jimmy Lee of JPMorgan Chase defined it as “the next great blue chip.”