On February 29th, tech giant LG Electronics announced a strategic collaboration in the XR domain with Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). Meta's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, made a special trip to South Korea for this occasion, meeting with LG CEO William Cho and Park Hyoung-sei, President of LG's Home Entertainment Division, at LG's headquarters to finalize the details of the partnership. It is reported that Zuckerberg also showcased the Quest 3 headset to William Cho during this meeting.
This marks Zuckerberg's first public visit to South Korea since the launch of the Gear VR smartphone headset in partnership with Samsung back in 2014.
LG officials have confirmed that discussions revolved around "business strategies and considerations for the development of the next-generation XR devices," stating: "LG looks forward to creating a unique ecosystem in the XR field by combining Meta's platform advantages with its own content/services capabilities in the television business. Additionally, the synergy between Meta's core technology and LG's cutting-edge products and quality capabilities is expected to have a significant impact on the development of next-generation XR devices."
The mention of "content/services capabilities in the television business" in this collaboration may imply Meta's plans to introduce streaming services to the Quest platform, allowing users to access services like Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, Paramount+, and VUDU on Quest. Currently, Quest only supports a limited Netflix app, with other streaming services completely absent.
This isn't Meta's first collaboration with experienced consumer electronics companies. Previously, Samsung handled the hardware manufacturing for Gear VR, Oculus Go was manufactured by Xiaomi, and Oculus Rift S was co-designed and manufactured by Lenovo. All three headsets carried both partner logos and the Oculus brand. It's still unclear how the LG and Meta brands will be presented in the collaborative headsets.
It's worth noting that Meta isn't the only software giant partnering with South Korean hardware companies to develop XR headsets. Last year, Samsung announced a collaboration with Google to launch a headset supported by Google software, expected to hit the market later this year.
Recent reports suggest that the XR headset resulting from LG and Meta's collaboration will hit the market in the first half of 2025, with LG handling hardware and Meta focusing on software. There were also previous reports indicating that Meta will collaborate with LG to develop the future Quest Pro headset, with the expected initial device price around $2000.
LG's headset may also feature Meta's Codec Avatars technology, aimed at generating realistic avatars in real-time through facial tracking sensors in the headset, potentially revolutionizing remote communication. Apple's Personas project has similar goals, but is currently in the "uncanny valley" stage.
With Meta and LG reentering the field, along with Google and Samsung's involvement, the high-end headset market, currently dominated by Apple, may see a tripartite competition next year.
