Back in April of last year, Meta made waves by announcing its intention to extend Horizon OS—the operating system exclusive to its Quest line—to third-party headsets for the first time. Among the first brands mentioned to adopt this technology were ASUS, Lenovo, and Xbox, but since that initial reveal, Meta has been quite reserved with further updates on these devices. However, new leaks from well-known source ‘Luna’ suggest that ASUS might be leading the charge.
Luna, who’s gained a reputation for leaking details on upcoming virtual reality gear and software, has quite the track record with Meta news. Previously, Luna revealed the name ‘Quest 3S’ before it was officially announced and even detailed the inclusion of an Action Button on the latest headsets.
Beyond that, Luna’s investigative talents unearthed a room-scanning setup tutorial for the Quest 3 before it hit the market in 2023, as well as upcoming Quest software features that were still under wraps, such as testing functionalities that allowed apps to stay pinned on the Universal Menu dock.
In the latest scoop, Luna, drawing insights from a confidential source, suggests that the Asus Republic of Gamers headset is set to be one of the pioneering third-party Horizon OS head-mounted displays (HMD) to be released.
Allegedly code-named ‘Tarius,’ the headset is rumored to boast both eye-tracking and face-tracking capabilities, aligning it with some of the most advanced features seen in the Quest Pro. It’s also expected to come with high-end display technology, either quantum dot LCD with local dimming or micro-OLED screens.
If these details hold water, it looks like Asus isn’t just looking to create a flashy Quest 3S variant with RGB lights, but rather something that stands out as a genuine leap from the typical Quest offerings. The current lineup includes the Quest 3 with 512GB storage priced at $500 and the 128GB Quest 3S at $300.
While it’s wise to approach these reports with healthy skepticism, it’s apparent that Meta is gearing up to stay competitive, especially with Google releasing its Android XR, set to power Samsung’s much-anticipated XR headset, known by the codename Project Moohan, expected to hit the consumer market later this year.
