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When it comes to advancing standalone XR headsets, two crucial elements dominate the conversation: shedding weight and boosting performance. While Meta has showcased its Orion AR glasses prototype, which uses a wireless compute unit, Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, doesn’t believe this setup is the ultimate solution for standalone VR gaming.
Bosworth, who also leads Meta’s Reality Labs XR team, often hosts Instagram Q&A sessions where he discusses a playful mix of professional insights and personal anecdotes. In his most recent chat, he explored the topic of wireless compute units, emphasizing why Meta finds them unsuitable for its standalone VR headsets.
“We’ve revisited this concept numerous times. The reality is wireless compute pucks don’t address the core issues,” Bosworth explained. “Even with a wireless setup, the headset still carries a battery, contributing significantly to its weight. Sure, you gain some thermal space for potentially improved performance, but you’re capped by bandwidth limitations due to the reliance on radio signals.”
Beyond technical challenges, Meta’s primary goal lies in creating something accessible to the average consumer, as seen in its Quest 3S, offered at an attractive starting price of $300 for the 128GB model. Bosworth further elaborated, “You’ve essentially hiked up your expenses significantly. Even if you shift the main silicon to a wireless compute puck, you still need plenty of silicon to handle displays, correct the local output, and manage data streaming. It boils down to this—the math doesn’t add up. You end up not saving much weight and significantly jacking up your costs and complexity.”
This perspective contrasts sharply with Meta’s Orion prototype, which includes a wireless compute unit. However, the Orion isn’t destined for mass production due to its steep manufacturing costs, rumored to be around $10,000 per unit, stemming from its complex silicon carbide lenses. Yet, in certain scenarios, like delivering simpler graphics to AR glasses, wireless pucks do find their niche.
Looking ahead, Bosworth noted that the first consumer-ready AR glasses won’t debut at the Quest’s appealing price point. Back in September, he acknowledged that such a device “won’t be cheap,” but Meta is committed to ensuring they fall within a reasonable price range comparable to phones or laptops.
