A key Meta Platforms executive has hit back at claims his company would cease orders of components for the Meta Quest Pro. Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer, Meta, slammed the rumours from a recent The Information article, stating: “Don’t believe everything you read.”
The reference refers to The Information’s claim that Meta allegedly plans to wind down the Quest Pro’s production. According to the report, Meta stopped supplier component orders, suspending its entire Pro product lineup.
Despite the allegations, Bosworth took to Instagram Stories on Sunday to dispel the rumours. XR Today understands that the post was removed the following day, with Road to VR citing the commentary.
In his post, he stated that Reality Labs teams were building further prototypes for all projects. Bosworth also hints that an employee of the Menlo Park-based firm had potentially handed off the allegations to The Information.
The CTO stated there was no Quest Pro 2 headset “until we decide there is.” The company developed numerous prototyped headsets “in parallel,” with some proceeding and others removed from the lineup.
Bosworth explained the Quest Pro rumour further, as quoted by Road to VR,
“What you need to understand is, until it goes out the door, it doesn’t get the name. So, there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what’s been stopped or started. A lot of times it comes from someone who’s unhappy their particular project got cut when there are other projects that did not get cut.”
Mythbusting with Meta’s Bosworth
The comments come after similar reports surfaced over Bosworth’s position on PC VR. Bosworth pushed back on Instagram Stories, stating they were “misleading half-truths.”
According to the exec, the publication implied in his post would report ‘half-truths’ and then “give you the opportunity to correct it.”
Bosworth explained,
“[It’s] like, ‘Hey, why don’t you give me the news?’ It’s almost like a shakedown. ‘Here’s a bunch of wrong things about you. I’m going to publish them unless you tell me the right things.’ I don’t do that. So don’t believe everything you read”
He continued that the report had published false information such as its position on PC mobile. According to Bosworth, the company was not “staffed to do both” and he had communicated that to Zuckerberg.
Bosworth concluded: “That’s how we got to where we are, so don’t believe everything you read. That thing was full of half-truths and misleading stuff, but I am six foot two inches tall. That’s true.”
The Latest on the Meta Quest Pro, 3
Bosworth’s reply to Meta Quest Pro rumours comes after the CTO answered a series of questions linked to Meta’s operations on Stories. People from inside and outside the company took to social media to discuss the Meta Quest 3’s battery life, additional details on the successor to the Quest 2, the company’s target audience, and other details.
Meta has recently issued several price cuts to the inaugural Quest Pro headset, where Meta slashed the price from $1,500 to $1,000 USD. The Quest 3 will likely sell for $500 USD following its full debut at the Connect 2023 event in September.
Meta has faced several media criticisms since it announced its rebrand from Facebook and metaverse ambitions in October 2021. The company has faced many setbacks, including lower-than-expected Quest Pro sales and transnational data fines from the European Union.
The tech giant has also tackled criticisms over its metaverse progress, online safety policies, competition with Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset, and others.
XR Today analysed Meta’s progress towards the Metaverse in a May opinion piece, which aimed to tackle rolling media misinformation on the next-gen spatial communications platform.
In it, the column explained how Meta’s progress as a metaverse firm contributed significantly to empirical data and triggered the metaverse space race. Doing so sparked unprecedented interest in the metaverse while calling on industry professionals to identify the immersive platform.
