This is how Mark Zuckerberg makes fun of Apple’s competing Vision Pro glasses

It’s rare for the head of a tech company to publicly tear down a competing product, but Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is now taking a hard line against Apple’s new computer glasses.

What does Zuck criticize about the Vision Pro?

Zuckerberg said on Tuesday in a video on his own Instagram platform that he has finally tried out the Apple Vision Pro. Even before that, he expected that the Quest 3 VR glasses from his meta group, which are seven times cheaper, would offer the better price-performance ratio for most people. But after the test, he even thinks “the Quest is the better product, period,” Zuckerberg said in the video filmed with one of the glasses.

The $500 Quest 3 is more comfortable, offers more freedom of movement and a larger field of view than the Apple Glasses, which sell for $3,500 and up, Zuckerberg announced. The manual control also works more precisely. “I’m surprised that at this price difference, the Quest is so much better for the vast majority of things people use these headsets for,” he continued.

What do Vision Pro and Quest 3 have in common?

For Apple, the launch of the Vision Pro marks its first entry into a new product category in almost a decade. The iPhone company is also moving into Meta territory. Zuckerberg’s company has spent billions over the years developing technology that allows users to immerse themselves in digital worlds.

In addition to rendering virtual reality (VR), the Quest 3 and Vision Pro can also integrate digital content into real-world environments, known as augmented reality (AR). Zuckerberg clearly couldn’t leave unchallenged the conclusion from some test reports that the Vision Pro was the best mixed reality headset yet.

At the same time, he said there is a fundamental dispute about the future of the technology: he wants to ensure that an open access model, like the one Meta is pursuing, prevails.

Why is Zuckerberg attacking Apple?

There has been tension between Apple and Meta for some time. It’s a lot of money and the question of which technology company can retain customers.

With its ad-funded platforms, the Facebook group is pursuing a different business model than Apple, which became the world’s richest company by selling its own hardware — especially the iPhone — and is trying to protect its island ecosystem.

A few years ago, Zuckerberg was very angry about Apple’s measures to increase privacy on the iPhone. Since then, app developers like Meta have had to obtain explicit consent from users if they want to track their behavior across apps. Many rejected the so-called tracking – also undermining Meta advertising models that personalized ads in this way. However, the meta-business has since recovered.

Most recently, Zuckerberg criticized Apple’s plans to implement the EU DMA law. This states, among other things, that iPhones must also be able to download applications from sources other than their own app store. However, Apple’s alternative terms may keep many developers stuck in the current system. Apple therefore received heavy criticism from, among others, the Swiss developer of the messaging service Threema.

(dsc/sda/awp/dpa)