Last hebdomad , Mark Zuckerbergtook to Instagramand declare that , after try Vision Pro , Quest 3 is “ better for the vast legal age of things that people use mixed realness for . ”
Naturally , nobody should expect Zuck ’s weird hotel hostage video to have radiate things to say about the competition ’s headset . He ’s CEO of Meta whose “ Reality Labs ” division is mislay many zillion of dollar a year on R&D , sales , and marketing of Quest headsets . His ruling on this matter is the least trusty , most conflicted a person could ever get hold .
But is he correct ? Does Quest 3 do for $ 500 what the Vision Pro ca n’t at seven times the price ? Is it a betteroverallproduct for “ most people ? ”
Three apps with limited placement and laser-pointer-like control isn’t a great interface.
After spending quite some meter with both headset , I conceive he has a point but is also missing some of import thing . He ’s veracious , but not necessarily for the reason he thinks , and maybe not for long . Here ’s how Quest 3 compares to Vision Pro flop now , with the obvious caveat that this matchup will change over prison term as both product continue to evolve .
Apple Vision Pro
Meta Quest 3
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Price and value
Let ’s start with the obvious profits for Quest 3 : price . It start at $ 500 , while Vision Pro starts at $ 3,500 . manifestly one is within range for millions of possible customer and the other is a luxury item .
But it goes beyond the headset . The Quest 3 ’s supplement are allmuchmore middling priced . The carrying caseful is $ 70 , while Apple ’s eldritch “ wrinkle marshmallow ” case is $ 199 . An kick upstairs rigid strap is $ 70 , Apple ’s strap each be $ 99 ( though it comes with both ) .
Prescription lens system inserts for Quest 3 are sold by Zenni and are $ 50 , half the price of the Zeiss readers for Vision Pro and a third of the price of the prescription lenses . Many masses wo n’t need them , however , as you could adjust the face gasket to be a little deeper and tire out the Quest 3 rightfulness over most regular field glass .
While the Quest 3 also feels cheaper with its plastic expression and fully grown seams and such , it ’s the clear winner here . Vision Pro is just too far out of reach for too many mass , no matter how proficient it is .
Winner : Meta Quest 3
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Comfort
Much has been said about the weight of the Vision Pro , which at 600 - 650 g ( depending on the shoulder strap ) is about 20 percent heavy than the Quest 3 . But it ’s more than weight , it ’s how sit on your read/write head . The Quest 3 has a skillful shoulder strap and weight balance , and you may buy an Elite Strap for $ 70 that allow for a skillful rigid rear slice . As a result , the weight rests around and on the top of your caput , and the headset itself scarcely has to bid against your brass — just enough to keep the lighting out .
Vision Pro carries almost all its weight way out front , and requires a slew of face pressure to keep it in plaza as you move around . Even with the Dual Loop band , which helpfully rests some of the weight on top of your head , there ’s too much imperativeness necessary .
There ’s more to soothe than the headset on your headland , though . While Quest 3 wins that battle hands - down , Vision Pro is a more comfortable experience in other ways . For example , even though Quest 3 does handwriting tracking , the interface is undependable without the controllers – its primary input method . Picking up controllers every clip you want to do something is frustrating , particularly if you ’re trying to do some body of work with a virtual show and a keyboard .
Three apps with limited placement and laser-pointer-like control isn’t a great interface.
I ’m chance on by how often the Quest 3 ’s rooter spins up to a very hearable level , too . You do n’t find it in a full VR experience with muckle of music and heavy effects , but too many everyday body process are accompanied by awhrrr … indorse track . I have never find out the Vision Pro ’s fans , but teardowns break there are two of them .
What ’s more , the Quest 3 pass - through picture isverygrainy and more distorted than Vision Pro . Apple does an unbelievable caper un - distorting the video passthrough to jibe your rude visual sensation ’s perspective , which pee it more well-fixed to look at for extended periods . For augmented reality stuff , it ’s easy to bet at the Earth for a long meter through Vision Pro .
Quest 3 is still the more comfortable headset , thanks in part to Apple ’s subscript bands and an over - reliance on metal and plastic , but it ’s not as far ahead as you might recall .
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Interface and usability
This is an area where Vision Pro excels over Quest 3 . Simply put , using a Vision Pro is gentle . The interface , which bank entirely on middle and hand tracking , it sporty and more intuitive . There are great deal of sore spots ( you ca n’t make a windowpane follow you , notification require oeuvre , there are too many wanting or under - fix apps , the Home View stinks ) , but the simple act of pull strings your practical environment is light and clear .
Quest 3 is establish around using controller , and while controllers have a lot of value for some thing , manipulating the core user interface with what feels like a couple of optical maser arrow seems more like a “ VR experimentation ” than a polished product . There are too many icons that are too small , it ’s not readable how to resize things or when you ca n’t , and in augmented reality mode you ’re special to melt three 2D apps at once . Apple does a good line with approachability scene as well .
Foundry
Three apps with limited placement and laser-pointer-like control isn’t a great interface.
The whole Quest interface feels fiddly and finicky , with a mishmash of ideas and convention . Some things are ikon , others are almost web - like “ feed . ” Buttons are different size and shapes . Some user interface target are too small . Vision Pro ’s interface may seem limited by comparison , but it ’s clear and logical and takes just a few minutes to con . you may have a Quest 3 for days and you ’ll still discover how thing are supposed to work . I ca n’t envisage put one on the face of someone who is n’t very technically savvy and take them to figure out how to find out , download , and set in motion a specific app .
Winner : Apple Vision Pro
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Productivity
If we ’re being reliable , neither headset is particularly skilful at getting actual study done . Both sustain virtual desktops , though Vision Pro makes it much soft to get associate to a Mac , and Universal Control makes it seamless to move your Mac ’s keyboard and trackpad – but not mouse – between the Mac screen background and other Vision Pro apps . ( With the good software program , either headset will work with Macs and PCs ) .
The settlement and fidelity of the Vision Pro displays make it a more effective way of life to work on with school text on a virtual estimator video display than on Quest 3 . But you ’re just well off take care at a real monitor lizard than wreak this way with either machine .
The apps made for the machine itself are n’t really any good than anything you have on your laptop computer or desktop . They ’re all limit in significant ways , as is your ability to access and work with data file . The more receptive app surroundings of the Mac , and Finder , are far good for getting material body of work done .
The ability to freely place multiple windows is a strength, but without a Mac you’re not going to be very productive in general.
The resolve and power to easily hunt down and reposition many flat applications make Vision Pro the succeeder here , and all the automatic cloud syncing of messages and photo and the ilk for those that use other Apple merchandise really helps a good deal . But you ’re not choke to get oeuvre done easier or faster with either equipment than you would with the headset off . Buying a second monitor is a bigger productivity hike for most the great unwashed .
Thanks to better expose faithfulness , multitasking , and an easier and more intuitive restrainer - gratis interface , Vision Pro has the potentiality to be a much better productiveness tool . The apps just are n’t there yet .
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Entertainment
properly now , ascertain movies and video is belike the most svelte and fledged utilization case for the Vision Pro . Whether flat , three-D , or spatial , the video recording - watching experience on Vision Pro is exceeding . Much of that is owed to the fantastic HDR video display , but the great spatial environment of apps like Disney+ help oneself , too .
Gaming is another matter . Some iPad game are available , but unless you could play them with an Xbox or Playstation controller you ’re never going to be able-bodied to assure them . There are scarcely any spatial games . Full VR game , especially braggart AAA title , are all but nonexistent . And with no support for hand - tracking controllers , it ’s arduous to imagine how it ’s go to ever be a outstanding twist for truly high - quality immersive games .
Quest 3 does n’t present TV with as much fidelity as Vision Pro , but you have a slew more useable . There are more streaming apps , you may view VR video recording on the web ( Vision Pro ca n’t yet ) , and there are circumstances of apps that do a really good line of streaming VR or flat video from local net portion and the like . Apple ’s headset is way , right smart behind on all of this .
When your best-foot-forward gaming experience is an update to a 14-year old iPhone game, you’ve got problems.
gambling is rich , with lots of quality VR game let in big AAA titles . Asgard ’s anger 2 is even bundle up with all Quest 3 headset right now , and place any Vision Pro game to shame with its depth and quality . It ’s also quite easy to play PC VR games from a Windows microcomputer using wither a wireless connectedness or an affordable data link cablegram . you may act Steam VR game or game on other microcomputer marketplaces , and they make Vision Pro game calculate like silly toy .
Vision Pro proffer a salutary video watching experience from its few supported apps , but lack support for view video any other manner so the content selection is far too limiting . And the gaming situation is laughable .
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Social sharing
If there ’s a real tender spot with the Vision Pro , it ’s the fact that it ’s such a solitary gimmick . Outside of FaceTime foretell that put your Persona in a floating window ( or a Zoom meeting or the comparable ) there ’s not really any room to do “ spacial clobber ” together with anyone else . You ca n’t really watch a movie together in the same practical theater . You ca n’t have two people in the same way , both wear Vision Pro headset , looking at the same virtual object and interact with it together . There are no on-line multiplayer games where you see the other person , or an avatar of them .
Contrast this with Meta ’s approach , which prioritized multiplayer game from the early Oculus Rift days when the headset had to be tethered to a powerful play microcomputer . Using Meta Quest 3 is full of multi - user experiences , from VR Chat to multiplayer games and of course Horizon Worlds , and the entire “ metaverse ” where masses make avatar and walk around to play games , watch TV , and do all sorts of stuff and nonsense together .
Meta
Xbox game streaming is great on Quest 3, and isn’t coming to Vision Pro anytime soon.
It ’s unsurprising that a company whose independent business is social media views connection and collaboration between user as a core precept , and Vision Pro was never going to found with anything approaching a “ metaverse . ” Apple probably will never make one , and it ’s too full-grown a job for a third - company developer to have available this soon . But it ’s deeply disappointing that so many of the core tasks with Vision Pro are entirely lonesome . There ’s a huge miss opportunity for telepresence in everything from working , look out tv set or movies , see sports , and of course gaming . Meta ’s not just winning by default here , Apple ’s form of scoring an own end .
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Ecosystem
You ’d cerebrate this is a barb stuff shot for Apple , since one planetary house - in and you ’ve got all your Messages , Photos , Mail , and other hooey synced up nicely with your Mac or iPhone . Creating a Mac virtual display is as easy as glancing over at your MacBook and selecting the Connect push button . And of course , there ’s a adequate library of Apple TV+ picture show and show film for Vision Pro with Apple Immersive Video .
But there are handsome gaps . It does n’t actually process with your iPhone or Apple Watch – you ca n’t view your iPhone or iPad screen the fashion you may your Mac . You do n’t get a presentment when a call comes in . You ca n’t AirPlay video subject matter from your other Apple devices into a VR screen in Vision Pro . Even when create a virtual Mac display , the audio still comes from your Mac rather than the Vision Pro .
And there ’s very fiddling way to get it work with anything else . Third - political party apps to allow you toy back video or audio files on your local mesh ca n’t seem to stream them . There ’s no way to pluganythinginto the Vision Pro . You obviously ca n’t sideload apps , or instal apps from the entanglement or other marketplace like you may on a Mac .
Horizon Worlds, for all its flaws, is a good example of how social Meta wants mixed reality to be.
The Quest 3 does n’t have the holistic ecosystem of your photograph and messages and such quickly and seamlessly available from the moment you lumber in . But it work with lots ofthings . you’re able to plug in outside storage , link to a PC , sideload apps , run VR games and apps from a Windows PC , and of course of instruction relate up all sort of controllers and bluetooth devices ( far more than on Vision Pro ) .
While Vision Pro has a much easier ecosystem , it ’s only with other Apple stuff and even that feels uncompleted . Quest 3 ’s ecosystem is wide and plays pretty well with others , but often requires a mickle of shrink from around to see how to configure thing or get them set up .
Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: Verdict
Believe it or not , Zuck is correct . He said the Quest 3 is betterfor the huge absolute majority of things that people employ mixed world for . And it is .
Most masses , globally , are not so deep into the Apple ecosystem where it ’s the only affair that matters . They ’re not go to benefit much from topnotch mere swarm - synced Messages or Photos . They ’re more potential to require to make a WhatsApp video recording call than FaceTime someone .
And presently , people mostly use motley realism for entertainment and multiplayer , multi - user societal experience . Watching VR and flat video , playing game , and perhaps some house fitness clobber . The quality of watching video on Vision Pro is heavy but the selection is far too limited , and as a gambling or fittingness twist it ’s a full non - starter .
Plugging the Quest 3 into other things is trivial, and opens a host of capabilities Vision Pro can’t match.
What Zuck is missing , or at least choosing to ignore , is that he ’s compare the up-to-the-minute machine in a geezerhood - foresightful platform against the first twist in a program less than a month old . Part of the reason Quest 3 is good at “ what people use mixed realism for ” is because it has been the undisputed market leader for yr . It ’s self - fulfilling : Their headsets are bang-up at doing what masses use their headset for .
Apple ’s not about to catch up on time value any clip soon , and with no substance of plug anything into the Vision Pro the broader ecosystem outlook are limited . But with a few good package updates , some pregnant app update , and new apps , Vision Pro can make big leaps forward . And there ’s a real chance in create new experiences that theydon’tget on Quest headsets today .
Vision Pro ’s chief job is that it ’s green , not that it ’s “ shut ” vs. the more “ receptive ” nature of Quest 3 that Zuckerberg touted . Apple is in a race to make gravid platform - layer melioration , push major app update , and drive developer stake faster than Meta can free software program with a ripe interface and a headset with better exhibit and optic tracking .
If you were to buy a headset today , for doing what mass use these headsets for now ( entertainment , fitness , and socialization ) , the Quest 3 is definitely a better merchandise . The superior productiveness of Vision Pro does n’t tip the scale of measurement , because honestly both devices are bad productiveness tools in most post . But for how long will Quest 3 stay on the better headset ? That ’s up to Apple .
