Meta Platforms is taking a strategic step by expanding the availability of its Meta Horizon OS, the software that powers its Quest headsets, to other device makers. This move underscores the company’s ambition to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of virtual and mixed reality technologies. Meta Horizon OS will provide off-the-shelf capabilities such as gesture recognition, passthrough, scene understanding, and spatial anchors to devices that adopt it. Meta has already secured partnerships with Asus and Lenovo, who will utilize the OS in their devices. Notably, Meta is developing a new gaming-oriented Quest headset with an Xbox-like design.
This initiative reflects Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of establishing a computational platform that powers VR and MR devices, akin to Google’s Android dominance in the smartphone market. Zuckerberg showcased potential examples of specialized headsets that could emerge from these collaborations, ranging from lightweight and sweat-wicking models for fitness to immersive high-resolution headsets for entertainment and haptic-equipped headsets for gaming. Asus’s Republic of Gamers is working on a gaming headset, while Lenovo is developing a mixed reality headset for productivity, learning, and entertainment purposes. Zuckerberg acknowledged that these devices may take several years to reach the market.
Meta Horizon OS will also feature a Horizon Store, formerly known as Quest Store, for downloading apps and experiences. A mobile companion app, now called Meta Horizon app, will complement the platform.
