{"id":164351,"date":"2025-06-07T00:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/164351\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T00:58:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:58:16","slug":"metas-next-headset-is-reportedly-thin-powerful-uses-a-puck-style-compute-unit-coming-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/164351\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta’s Next Headset is Reportedly Thin, Powerful & Uses a Puck-style Compute Unit, Coming in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a Wall Street Journal <\/a>report, Meta may be looking to some of Hollywood\u2019s top brands to produce exclusive content for its next XR headset, which is expected to feature a completely new thin and light design when it reportedly ships next year.<\/p>\n

Citing people familiar with the matter, Meta has recently been in talks with a number of entertainment brands, including Disney, A24, and smaller production companies to create both episodic and standalone immersive video tied to well-known IP.<\/p>\n

Additionally, WSJ\u00a0reports that talks include the possibility of timed exclusivity, allowing producers to later sell on other platforms after a specified period.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s said Meta hopes to use the videos to attract users to the company\u2019s next XR headset, which is expected to compete with Apple Vision Pro when it launches next year.<\/p>\n

Codenamed \u2018Loma,\u2019 the headset is said to feature a design similar to a pair of eyeglasses that connects to a pocketable compute puck, which is described as more powerful than its Quest 3 series of headsets.\u00a0WSJ\u00a0reports Meta is looking to price the device less than $1,000.<\/p>\n

Provided the report is true, this would mark a sharp departure from the company\u2019s current line of Quest headsets, which pack all components into a single standalone unit. Outside of Quest Pro, which was largely seen as a commercial failure, the company has also increasingly focused on sub-$650 hardware. Quest 3S, its most recent, is currently priced as low as $300.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Meta Quest 3S side profile | Image courtesy Meta<\/p>\n

Speaking to WSJ, Meta says it develops multiple headset prototypes at all times\u2014a non-committal answer if we\u2019ve ever heard one. Whatever the case, shopping around for exclusive content deals suggests something substantial is coming down the line.<\/p>\n

A separate report from\u00a0UploadVR <\/a>additionally claims Meta\u2019s top Quest 4 contenders, codenamed \u2018Pismo Low\u2019 and \u2018Pismo High\u2019, have been canceled.\u00a0Quest 4 was reportedly expected to land next year; rumors echoed by respected VR leaker\u00a0Luna<\/a>\u00a0recently suggested Quest 4 is however now coming in 2027 in favor of the new design mentioned above.<\/p>\n

Notably, Meta CTO and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth said last December that wireless puck units for mixed reality headsets like Quest aren\u2019t \u201ca magic bullet,\u201d<\/a> suggesting the separate compute unit may be tethered to the headset in question.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Orion Puck Computer | Image courtesy Meta<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have looked at this a bunch of times. Wireless compute pucks just really don\u2019t solve the problem. If you\u2019re wireless, they still have a battery on the headset, which is a major driver of weight. And, sure, you\u2019re gaining some thermal space so your performance could potentially be better, although you\u2019re somewhat limited now by bandwidth because you\u2019re using a radio,\u201d Bosworth said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the XR landscape is invariably moving towards thin and light hardware of all types, encompassing everything from PC VR headsets like Bigscreen Beyond 2, to smart glasses that offer built-in heads-up displays, such as the upcoming Android XR-powered glasses from Google<\/a>\u2014set to be released by Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Widely reported rumors of\u00a0Meta\u2019s next-gen smart glasses<\/a>\u00a0and Apple\u2019s upcoming smart glasses<\/a> also persist.<\/p>\n

At least in the case of bulky XR headsets though, the hope is that removing weight will also reduce user friction, and drastically increase long-term engagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to a Wall Street Journal report, Meta may be looking to some of Hollywood\u2019s top brands to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3162],"tags":[53,16,15,3243,3244],"class_list":{"0":"post-164351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-technology","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-virtual-reality","12":"tag-vr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114639372947065752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}