Apple Vision Pro
Zuckerberg badmouths Apple’s competing glasses
A few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg was very angry about Apple’s measures to increase privacy on the iPhone. photo
© Andrej Sokolow/dpa
A few days ago, Apple launched the Vision Pro – a pair of computer glasses for $3,500. Mark Zuckerberg thinks his glasses, the $500 Quest 3, are the better product.
It’s rare for the head of a tech company to publicly tear down a competing product – but Facebook founders do Mark Zuckerberg is now taking a hard line against Apple’s new computer glasses. Zuckerberg said in a video on the company’s own Instagram platform that he finally tried out the Apple Vision Pro.
Even before that, he expected that the Quest 3 VR glasses from his meta group, which are seven times cheaper, would offer the better price-performance ratio for most people. But after the test, he even thinks “that the Quest is the better product, period,” Zuckerberg said in the video filmed with one of the glasses.
The $500 Quest 3 is more comfortable, offers more freedom of movement and a larger field of vision than the Apple glasses, which sell for $3,500 and up, Zuckerberg announced. The hand control also works more precisely. “I’m surprised that at this price difference the Quest is so much better for the vast majority of things people use these headsets for,” he continued.
For Apple, the launch of the Vision Pro is the first entry into a new product category in nearly a decade. The iPhone company is also moving into Meta’s territory. Zuckerberg’s company has spent billions over the years developing technology that allows users to immerse themselves in digital worlds. In addition to displaying this virtual reality (VR), the Quest 3 and Vision Pro can also integrate digital content into real-world environments. Zuckerberg obviously couldn’t leave the assessment from some test reports that the Vision Pro was the best headset to date unchallenged.
Tensions between Apple and Meta
At the same time, he said that there is a fundamental dispute about the future of the technology: He wants to ensure that an open access model, like the one Meta is pursuing, prevails.
There has been tension between Apple and Meta for some time. A few years ago, Zuckerberg was very angry about Apple’s measures to increase privacy on the iPhone. App developers like Meta have since had to obtain users’ explicit consent if they want to track their behavior across different apps. Many rejected this – and in doing so also undermined Meta ad models that personalized advertising in this way. Meanwhile, the meta business recovered.
Most recently, Zuckerberg criticized Apple’s plans for implementing the EU DMA law. Among other things, it stipulates that iPhones must also be able to download applications from sources other than the company’s own app store. However, alternative conditions provided by Apple could cause many developers to prefer to stay in the current system.