Face computers

Meta is getting more paranoid about Apple's unannounced headset project.

Apple’s AR/VR headset project is maybe the worst-kept secret in tech. Everyone knows the company plans to announce something—even if the details are fuzzy on what that means. Apple, however, hasn’t said anything.

Apple’s silence hasn’t stopped pretty much everyone from trying to figure out what it might have planned. For some reason, tech companies have decided that VR headsets—or, face computers, as I call them—are the next logical evolution of personal technology. I’m not sure that’s true, but if I’m right, it won’t be because companies haven’t tried.

If a computer that you wear on your face is going to be a thing, it seems likely that Apple will have a lot to do with defining what that means. Even Meta, which arguably has the most successful face computer to date, the Quest 2, seems hyper-concerned about what Apple might have planned.

In some ways, Meta seems to be trying everything it can to pre-empt whatever move Apple might make. The company (which was formerly known as Facebook) released a high-end Quest Pro last year. This week, it said it would cut the price by $500 in what it says is an attempt to spur more people to get into VR headsets.

Focusing on Apple is a mistake, however. Especially for Meta. Here’s why: