Meta started work on a Quest Pro 2 in November, according to The Information.
Buried in their report today about Apple suspending work on Vision Pro 2 to focus on shipping a cheaper headset by the end of next year, The Information’s Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu also report that Meta “started work in November on a new high-end headset, internally code-named La Jolla”.
We’ve heard that La Jolla name before. The Verge received an internal Meta roadmap in March 2023. It accurately described Quest 3 and other Meta products. Alongside accurately describing Quest 3 and other Meta products, the roadmap revealed that a 2024 Quest Pro 2 candidate had been canceled in favor of a more ambitious but “way out in the future” model codenamed La Jolla.
Quest Pro 2 “Way Out In The Future” With Photoreal Avatars
Meta reportedly canceled a near-term successor to Quest Pro, with the next model now “way out in the future” featuring photorealistic avatars.
According to that roadmap, La Jolla would feature Codec Avatars, have higher resolution, and retain Quest Pro’s rear-battery design.
“We want to make it higher resolution for work use and really nail work, text and things like that” Meta’s VP of VR Mark Rabkin reportedly said.
Codec Avatars is Meta’s long-running research & development project aiming to revolutionize remote communication by achieving truly convincing photorealistic avatars driven in real-time by headsets with face tracking sensors, and eventually glasses too. Meta revealed its existence in in 2019.
In early January, code for Codec Avatars was found within the Quest firmware. This suggests Meta is working actively to bring the feature into a product. Meta first announced the project’s existence in January references.saidIn March of last year, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said that although they were “making progress”, shipping Codec Avatars was still “years away”.
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It is unclear whether Meta’s partnership LG will affect La Jolla or if it’s a completely different project. The first South Korean outlet, in September reported LG will make future Quest Pro headphones. However, it is “controlling the pace” following multiple reports that the headset was pushed back to 2027 due to significant disagreements between LG and Meta. The new report from Ma and Liu does not mention when Meta plans to ship La Jolla, but the leaked roadmap mentioning it being “way out in the future” since March 2023 suggests that we shouldn’t expect this any time soon.