Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in a companywide meeting with employees back in June, that Apple's device didn't present any major breakthroughs in technology that Meta hadn't “already explored” and that its vision for how people will use the device is 'not the one that I want.'" Yet Vision Pro's ability to have giant multiple floating webpages and work documents available to users is a huge breakthrough, regardless of Zuckerberg's feelings on the matter.

(Apple Vision Pro Image – Click to Enlarge)

In fact a new report from The Elec this morning presents an image from Meta (our cover graphic) of a future scenario that indeed presents a user with multiple virtual displays, to at least appear to be trying to match Apple Vision Pro's great features.

Meta, which mainly sells mid- to low-priced VR devices, is showing interest in XR devices using Elcos, Oledos, and Redos. Meta has so far only released general LCD-based products.

Meta is expected to prepare for the blooming of the XR market by simultaneously reviewing Oledos and Redos along with Elcos displays. In the XR market, the differentiation strategies of major IT companies such as Apple, Sony, Samsung Electronics, and Google are expected to gradually become clear.

According to the industry, Meta is reviewing LCoS (LCoS:LC on Silicon), OLEDoS (OLEDoS:OLED on Silicon), and LEDoS (LEDoS:LED on Silicon) as next-generation extended reality (XR) device microdisplay technologies. It was found to be in progress. Elcos is a technology that forms a liquid crystal display (LCD) on a silicon substrate. OLEDOS is a technology that deposits organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on a silicon substrate, and LEDOS is a technology that forms light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on a silicon substrate. All three are major technologies for microdisplays around 1 inch that can be applied to XR devices.

Samsung Display can respond to meta with the white (W)OLED + color filter (CF) type OLEDOS that it is developing to supply to Samsung Electronics. The red (R) green (G) and blue (B) type OLEDOS, which Samsung Display plans to develop in earnest upon its acquisition of Imagine in the U.S., is a technology aimed at Apple, so Samsung Display can expect to supply WOLED+CF type OLEDOS to Meta. However, it is known that Samsung Display is experiencing difficulties in developing the WOLED+CF type OLEDOS technology in progress at the A2 line.

Although Meta is setting 2027 as the target date for the launch of Redos AR devices, there are observations that considering the technology development stage, it is not easy to expect Redos application in 2027. Around 2027, we can expect to commercialize the RGB type OLEDOS that Samsung Display is developing to supply to Apple.

Presently, Apple Vision Pro is in a class by itself. Meta's advanced XR device to be able to compete with Vision Pro is only scheduled for 2027. By that time Apple will have greatly advanced their Spatial Computing platform at various price points.  

Samsung is going to try to introduce an XR Headset working with Qualcomm and Google in August 2024, but it's not expected to match Vision Pro's capabilities.

For now, Meta's Quest is not in the same league as Vision Pro and predicting that they'll have an advanced XR headset to compete with Vision Pro in four years, is, well, a bit of joke. It means that they were totally caught off guard regardless of Zuckerberg's little speech in June designed to calm down their employees that were likely freaking out at just how advanced Vision Pro really was.