In June 2023, when Tim Cook introduced Apple Vision Pro, Apple's first spatial computer, he said: ”Just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing.”

If Apple does to VR/AR headsets what the iPhone did to smartphones, then Mark Zuckerberg will be the biggest loser.

On Tuesday, Zuckerberg shared an Instagram video comparing Meta Quest 3 to Apple Vision Pro, he found that Quest 3 is not only the better value but also the better product “period”. Despite being 7 times less expensive, Quest 3 is still more comfortable, it's 120 grams less and there are no wires that get in the way when you move around.

Quest's field of view is wider, the screen is brighter and hand tracking is more accurate. Although, he admits that Eye tracking in Vision Pro is very nice and he will bring it back to Quests in the future.

Apple’s screen does have a higher resolution but he was surprised at the "tradeoffs" that Apple had to make sacrificing comfort and many other things.

Overall, Mark thinks that each company has different design decisions, but Quest 3 is better for the vast majority of tasks people use Mixed Reality for.

Who will be the leader?

No, don't expect Zuckerberg to be reviewing VR/AR headsets anytime soon, letting Tim Cook to lead the new generation of computing. The 4-minute video isn't to tell us about the features of the Quest 3 and Vision Pro, there are plenty of neutral voices for that.

But this great attention, that the Vision Pro received, puts pressure on Meta which has been the leader in VR headsets for a while, and now almost everyone sees that Apple is on its way to being the leader.

Zuckerberg wants to temper expectations about Apple's immediate dominance. So he pushes back against the assumption that Apple will inevitably lead the market, as it's widely believed. He brings the past to support his position. Every generation of computing has an open model and a closed model. And yes, in the era of mobile computing, Apple's closed model won out. But in the era of PC computing, Microsoft's open model was the winner. In this next generation, Meta’s open model will also be the winner.

Mark ends the video by saying: The future is not yet written and “the best way to predict the future is to invent it”.