In September 2023 Patently Apple posted a report titled "A rumor from Korea points to Meta partnering with LG to design and deliver a competing Vision Pro Headset at a lower price point." We posted a follow-up report in May 2024 titled "LG Slams the Brakes on a Project with Meta aimed at developing an XR Headset to compete with Vision Pro."

Yesterday, The Information posted a report titled "Meta Cancels High-End Mixed Reality Headset." The report noted that Meta told employees at that company's Reality Lab division to stop work on the devcie this week after a product review meeting attended by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CTO Andrew Bosworth and other Meta executives and employees."

The publication reports that the project was codenamed La Jolla and that the product would have ultimately launched in 2027 with similar micro-OLED display technology to that Apple uses in its headset.

A Meta representative stated online that "We have many prototypes in development at all times," the post reads in part. "But we don't bring all of them to production. We move forward with some, we pass on others. Decisions like this happen all the time, and stories based on chatter about one individual decision will never give the real picture."

The writing was on the wall when LG pulled their support for the project for the higher end headset to take on Vision Pro back in May, as we reported. Yet, Meta's representative stating that one decision about future headsets don't provide the real picture is equally apparent with a Meta patent being published on July 25, 2024 titled "Artificial Reality Entry Spaces for Virtual Reality Experiences."  

From the Meta patent figures presented below we see that the company is working on a future higher-end smartglasses concept that could wirelessly work with a core processing unit that could provide users with an XR experience beyond mere minor apps for photos and messaging.

The patent illustrates providing menus that are more Apple Vision Pro-like for conferencing for work while envisioning accessing pre-recorded music videos and 3D Movies for entertainment. For more details, see Meta's patent application 20240248528. Also see Meta patent application 20240264660