Differences Between Meta and Apple AR Glasses

Indeed, the world’s top tech companies are well aware of the AR/VR trend. In fact, they’ve sprung into action already. Apple and Meta (previously Facebook) are two of the biggest names hoping to sell the most “shovels” during this AR/VR gold rush.

What do I mean by “shovels”? AR glasses, of course! These stylish, futuristic glasses are our gateways to the AR/VR experience. Today, we’ll be looking at the differences between AR glasses from Meta and Apple. But wait! Hold your horses. Let us take a look at each product first.

What are Meta’s Quest Pro and Apple’s Vision Pro?

Fighting out of Meta’s corner, we have the Meta Quest Pro. And from Apple’s corner, we have the newly revealed Apple Vision Pro

In a nutshell, both AR glasses or headsets, help users with:

• Accessing the AR world. Users can work and play in an environment that is computer-generated and physical.
• Collaborating on projects. Users can come together in virtual spaces to work on projects together.
• Creating masterpieces. With apps that cater to design, users can create art, interiors, a metaverse, and so forth.

The main idea for both products is this: Wearing a computer. Imagine booking a hotel or playing a computer game with these headsets. It’ll be a more immersive experience, rather than using a laptop or mobile phone.

Now, let’s look into the differences properly.

1) Prices

First, the difference between AR glasses from Meta and Apple is its market information. Comparing the two products:

• Meta Quest Pro has a price tag of USD$999.99/-. It’s available to purchase
• Apple Vision Pro has a price tag of USD$3,499/-. It’ll be available for purchase in early 2024

That’s a huge difference in price! Is the Apple Vision Pro really a superior product? Stick around to find out.

2) Physical Design

The second difference between AR glasses from Meta and Apple is their physical design. For the headset:

• Meta Quest Pro has a front-facing visor. It has two cameras to allow full-color passthrough. In terms of user fit, it uses plastic arms and a pulley system. With this, any headset can fit any user with a physical adjustment.
• Apple Vision Pro has a front-facing visor as well. It’s a 3D-laminated glass. Using a feature called EyeSight, the exterior lights up in purple when the user is immersed in AR. This lets other parties know that the user is “busy”. In terms of user fit, it uses a flexible headband instead. With this, users feel more comfortable. But, the trade-off is that the headset cannot fit all users. Hence, it’ll be available in a few sizes.

Notably, Meta Quest Pro includes two controllers, while the Apple Vision Pro does not. These controllers comprise a joystick with buttons, packed with a rechargeable battery and vibration motor.

3) Specifications 

Next, let’s move on to specifications. If you’re a real techie and would like a deep dive, check out Nextpit’s article . For the following, we’ll summarize only the key differences.

a) Display and Optics

One of the differences between AR glasses from Meta and Apple is their display and optics. Comparing the two product displays:

• Meta Quest Pro uses a pair of pancake lenses. These are LCD lenses that have resolutions of 1,920 by 1,800 each. It has a refresh rate of up to 90 Hz.

  

• Apple Vision Pro uses its own custom R1 chip to deliver a 23 million-pixel experience to its users. It’s able to do this as it adopts micro-OLED technology. On top of that, Apple uses special lenses and optical inserts to improve the sharpness and clarity of its visuals.

From the above, we can see that the Apple Vision Pro reigns supreme in terms of its display. But, what about optics?

• Meta Quest Pro is not sensitive when it comes to face and eye tracking. You’ve got to make huge facial expressions for the other party to notice. But, it can recognize lip movements when speaking. The headset itself has 5 built-in cameras.
• Apple Vision Pro has a better face and eye-tracking system. It uses a ring of LEDs and high-speed cameras to project invisible light on the user’s eyes. Hence, the headset receives better inputs to reflect the user’s eyes and facial expressions. The headset itself has 12 built-in cameras and 5 sensors.

So, in terms of optics, it appears that the Apple Vision Pro can deliver a better visual experience.

b) Battery Life

As with any new piece of technology, battery life is expected to be low. In this case, both headsets perform pretty similarly.

• Meta Quest Pro has a battery life of 1 – 2 hours.
• Apple Vision Pro has a battery life of 2 hours.

Here, the Apple Vision Pro has a slight edge over the Meta Quest Pro.

c) Audio and Sound

Another point of comparison is the audio and sound. Let’s hear what both headsets have to offer.

• Meta Quest Pro has stereo speakers which deliver a 3D spatial sound experience. It’s got 3 microphones to receive audio inputs from its user.
• Apple Vision Pro has speakers close to the user’s ears to deliver a spatial audio experience. It’s got 6 microphones to receive audio inputs from its user.

From the above, it appears that the Apple Vision Pro provides a better audio experience. However, we base this just on its external specifications. We can’t really tell since the Apple Vision Pro isn’t released yet.

d) Performance

The last of the differences between AR glasses from Meta and Apple is their performance. We bring this up for comparison as we feel that user experience is of utmost importance. Here, we take a look at the hardware that supports said experiences.

The Meta Quest Pro, headset contains:

1. A Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 chipset.
2. An Adreno 650 graphics processing unit (GPU).
3. 256 GB of internal storage.
4. 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM.

The Apple Vision Pro, headset comprises:

1. An M2 chip for performance.
2. An R1 chip for processing user’s inputs.

Comparing both hardware, we feel that the Meta Quest Pro does pretty well. 256 GB of internal storage is a lot. And with a solid GPU, we’re convinced that Meta Quest Pro can deliver a good visual experience. Sadly, we can’t find much info on the Apple Vision Pro’s storage limits.

To conclude, both of the headsets above are pieces of superior tech. This is without a doubt. They were both developed by two of the top tech companies today. If you were to force us to choose which headset we would like to have, it’ll have to be the Apple Vision Pro. Indeed, its hardware and specifications point to a better user experience.

On the flip side, you’ll have to note its heftier price tag. It costs 3.5x compared to the Meta Quest Pro. With this, we recommend you review your budget too when choosing which headset to get.