New Meta Quest VR headset will hit the market in October

Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Meta’s upcoming VR headset will hit the market in October. The CEO did not name the device yet, but did say that it would have better eye and face tracking for social interaction in virtual reality.

Zuckerberg made the statements at the latest broadcast from the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. “Your avatar is not a static object. If you smile, frown or pout, whatever your expression, it will be translated to your avatar in real time,” he says. He also said that Meta will tell more about it during his Connect conference. No specific date has yet been announced.

Meta’s upcoming VR headset is presumably the Quest Pro. That name was leaked almost two months ago when code in the iOS version of the Meta Quest app was found to contain references to a device by that name. The string in the code describes ‘Pair Meta Quest Pro right controller’, a reference to pairing a controller with the headset.

Meta itself has only released teasers. It calls the upcoming headset Project Cambria and states that it will have high-end features. The headset will also receive a high price. In that teaser, Meta also talked about the headset getting cameras for tracking eye movements and facial expressions. The Meta foreman also gave a full color passthrough mode demo into the headset. So it seems that Zuckerberg spoke to Rogan about Project Cambria.

Demo video of Meta’s technology to display expressions and poses in virtual reality (October 2021).