Balancing weight with performance is key when advancing standalone XR headsets. Although Meta has teased their Orion AR glasses with a wireless compute module, Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, doesn’t consider this the ultimate solution for standalone VR gaming.
Bosworth, who leads Meta’s Reality Labs XR team, opened up in his recent Instagram Q&A, where he chatted about a mix of professional insights and personal anecdotes. He touched on why Meta isn’t leaning towards using wireless compute units for their standalone VR headsets.
In the discussion, Bosworth explained that while they’ve explored wireless compute units several times, these devices don’t address core issues. “The wireless models still require a battery on the headset, which contributes significantly to its weight,” he noted. “While they offer more thermal space potentially boosting performance, they fall short due to bandwidth limitations from wireless radio use.”
Beyond these technical complexities, Meta is centered on consumer accessibility, rolling out their Quest 3S for a budget-friendly $300 for the 128GB variant. Bosworth elaborated on the cost implications, saying, “Even if you house the main chips in a wireless puck, you still need considerable processing power on the headset for display functions and data handling. In the end, the numbers don’t add up—it doesn’t reduce enough weight and inflates costs and system complexity.”
This perspective contrasts with Meta’s Orion prototype, which does use a wireless compute unit. However, Orion won’t enter production due to its steep expense—estimated at $10,000 each—because of cost-intensive silicon carbide lenses. Despite this, such wireless setups might work well for less immersive AR glasses graphics.
However, according to Bosworth, Meta’s first consumer AR glasses won’t be priced similarly to the Quest models when they eventually launch. In a comment from September, Bosworth clarified that these AR glasses won’t be a budget buy, but the company plans to position them within pricing realms akin to smartphones and laptops, striving for affordability yet recognizing their technological value.
