They Fail to Address the Issue

When it comes to advancing standalone XR headsets, two crucial elements are shedding weight and boosting performance. While Meta has showcased its own Orion AR glasses prototype, which uses a separate wireless computing device, their CTO, Andrew Bosworth, remains doubtful that this approach is the ultimate solution for standalone VR gaming.

Bosworth, who also leads Meta’s Reality Labs XR team, frequently hosts Q&A sessions on Instagram, exploring topics ranging from professional insights to personal anecdotes. In his most recent discussion, Bosworth elaborated on the topic of wireless compute units, explaining why they may not be the ideal choice for standalone VR headsets.

“We’ve explored this option multiple times,” Bosworth explained. “Wireless compute units don’t seem to resolve the core issue. Even with wireless connectivity, you’re still dealing with the battery weight on the headset, which is a significant factor, and although you might think you gain thermal capacity, the radio bandwidth limitation holds you back in terms of performance.”

Beyond technical challenges, Meta’s strategy focuses on consumer accessibility, highlighted by their latest Quest 3S, priced as low as $300 for the 128GB version. Bosworth further shared his thoughts, saying, “Leveraging a wireless compute puck drives up costs significantly. Even if the main processing power is external, the headset still demands substantial silicon to drive the displays, handle data correction, and manage streaming—which essentially means the numbers just don’t add up. You don’t save on weight, and it complicates and increases costs.”

Interestingly, Meta’s Orion prototype does use a wireless compute unit, yet it’s not headed for mass production due to its high cost—estimated at $10,000 each, mainly due to pricey silicon carbide lenses. In specific scenarios, such as offering less immersive visuals for AR glasses, these units might be justified.

However, Bosworth has noted that their initial consumer AR glasses will not be priced akin to the Quest series when eventually released. He remarked in September that these glasses won’t come cheap but aimed for them to be as accessible as “devices like phones and laptops.”