With Meta Connect 2024 just around the corner (September 25-26), I want to share the five announcements I’m most looking forward to seeing at the event, as well as explain why I think they’re likely to happen (or not, in the case of one of the entries).
Meta Connect is an annual event from Meta focused on its Reality Labs division, revealing exciting new hardware coming soon and previewing future hardware and software we'll see in the coming years.
This year’s event is likely to continue the trend of focusing on XR (extended reality) technology — a suite of virtual, mixed, and augmented reality technologies — as well as the ever-present AI, which in Meta’s case is cleverly called Meta AI. So this list reflects those expectations, starting with an announcement that’s pretty much already been made.
Meta Reality Labs – Ventura/Panther Project Meta Quest 3S – Final Design pic.twitter.com/6Tc9ig2hJoAugust 11, 2024
This isn't so much a “what I want to see” as it is a “what we'll definitely see unless Meta is playing a practical joke on us.” That's because not only has Meta Quest 3S been teased by third-party leakers who have shared details about the project, but Meta itself has leaked its existence through apps and accidentally shown it off in unrelated Threads videos from its CTO.
From everything we know, the Quest 3S will feature the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset from the Quest 3, but a bulkier body and lower-spec displays so it can aim for a lower price point – hopefully around the $299 / £299 / AU$479 of the Meta Quest 2.
This would be an ideal headset for anyone who doesn't want to be left behind with VR software now that Meta Quest 3 exclusives like Batman: Arkham Shadow are on the way, but isn't ready to spend ($499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99) on a VR headset.
Obviously, we'll have to wait and see exactly what Meta announces during Connect, but I'm hoping the Quest 3S could be the biggest and best reveal we get in terms of making current-gen VR accessible again.
The Quest 3S may not be the only Horizon OS VR headset we see in September. Back in April, Meta announced that its operating system (Horizon OS) was coming to other headsets from Asus, Lenovo, and Xbox, and I think it’s about time we finally see one of those headsets in action.
Horizon OS is the best standalone VR operating system I've tested. It's clean, intuitive, feature-rich, and home to the best catalog of standalone VR and mixed reality software, thanks in part to some excellent exclusives. I was excited to see that other headset makers could tap into this OS and all of its benefits, as it would allow their hardware to shine without being let down by comparatively mediocre software.
However, we haven't heard anything since the announcement. Hardware development takes time, but at Meta Connect 2024 I'd love to see a promotional video showing off these third-party headphones, or even just one of them.
One factor that helps my prediction is Google’s XR platform. Given that Google’s XR initiatives (which it developed in conjunction with Samsung) are set to be announced sometime this year, it makes sense for Meta to remind us that Horizon OS is open to third parties so that Horizon OS doesn’t fall by the wayside.
Meta, and the industry at large, has been shifting its focus from VR headsets to AR headsets, and finally to OT headsets. The products being announced for the next decade are a new generation of sleek XR wearables focused on AR.
We know Meta is working on something that combines AR and AI – Mark Zuckerberg has hinted at it – but we've yet to see in detail what these glasses might look like, not counting the sleek, non-AR smart glasses Meta has developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban.
It seems unlikely that it will be released this year or even next year. I guess at most we'll get a look at a prototype of augmented reality glasses. However, I'd love to get a good look at what Meta has been doing in terms of augmented reality, even at this stage of development.
Since Meta likes to use Connect to showcase interesting projects that are still several years (or more) away from release, I think an AR glasses segment is more than possible for Meta Connect 2024.
Enough about hardware, let's talk about software.
It's been the buzzword of 2024 and I'm sure Meta AI will be spending a lot of time on it, however, I particularly want to see two announcements.
The first is a broader rollout. Officially, Meta AI on Ray-Ban smartglasses and the Meta Quest 3 is only available in the US and Canada. Some users (including me) have been able to access it anyway (in my case, I have Meta AI on my smartglasses), but I want to see people outside of North America be able to reliably use Meta AI. It’s a really good assistant, especially on the Ray-Bans, and it’s a shame that this important feature is region-locked right now, even if it’s not perfect yet.
The second would be to see Meta AI achieve better parity with the Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini updates we’ve seen at recent events, and perhaps some unique features. This could include integration with a wider selection of apps so you can pull context from more places, better voice recognition so you can speak to Meta AI more naturally, AI image generation and editing tools so you can edit snapshots taken with your Ray-Ban smart glasses on the fly, or a service that lets you conjure up virtual objects that you describe while wearing your Quest headset in a mixed reality environment.
A small showcase of Quest games
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For my fifth and final entry, I'm choosing something that seems less likely because Meta Connect typically doesn't go too deep into gaming: a mini Quest Gaming Showcase highlighting some exciting new VR titles.
We didn't have a proper Quest Gaming Showcase this year, so I'd love to see some Quest titles get a chance to shine on a big Meta stage at Connect 2024, especially mixed reality experiences and software that don't have the recognition of major gaming franchises (like Batman: Arkham Shadow) to help draw crowds.
That said, a particularly exciting announcement would be the revival of GTA: San Andreas VR after a Meta spokesperson labeled it as “on hold indefinitely” in August. That announcement is about as likely as hearing about Silk song during a Meta presentation (or any 2024 presentation, apparently), so I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.
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