Apple Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: What you need to know

After making some high-profile appearances in June, it’s time to see how an Apple Vision Pro vs. Meta Quest 3 showdown will play out once those headsets finally arrive.

Apple’s headset is the most recent to come, with the Apple Vision Pro debuting at WWDC 2023. However, Mark Zuckerberg decided to beat Tim Cook to the punch by unveiling the Meta Quest 3 in a surprise announcement only days before the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase.

Furthermore, the two headsets are somewhat different. The Apple Vision Pro is a genuine mixed reality headset built for what Apple calls “spatial computing.” Because of its EyeSight function, it interacts with the physical environment around you and keeps you interested with it.

Meanwhile, Meta Quest 3 is geared at the average VR fan. Despite the fact that it is a mixed reality device due to full-color passthrough, its default mode is still a VR headset with AR capabilities. However, at $499, it is a fraction of the $3,499 asking price of the Vision Pro.

So, now that we’ve had some hands-on time with the Apple Vision Pro and have all of the current Quest 3 information, it’s time to look at an Apple Vision Pro versus Meta Quest 3 comparison.

APPLE VISION PRO VS META QUEST 3:

SPECS :

When turned off, the Apple Vision Pro might be confused with the Meta Quest Pro. However, once activated, the results are genuinely eye-opening. The Vision Pro includes an EyeSight function that allows everyone in your vicinity to see your eyes, making conversations feel more natural.

Your eyes are covered under a curved sheet of 3D laminated glass that also acts as the lens for the headset’s camera array with the Vision Pro. The Vision Pro has 12 cameras, six microphones, and five sensors to follow your eyes, hands, and voice in order to manage the headset, which otherwise needs external controls.

The Vision Pro was designed with a unique, comfortable fit in mind. While it is not created to order, the modularly designed Light Seal and Head Band come in a range of sizes to guarantee the curved custom aluminum alloy headset matches the geometry of your face. Once you’ve chosen the perfect size, the Head Band has a knob for micro-adjustments.

The Meta Quest 3 offers a more one-size-fits-all approach, however it is smaller than the Meta Quest 2. The Quest 3 is 40% thinner than its predecessor, owing to pancake optics, which overlay optical material to enable for higher-resolution lenses in fewer places.

While the cameras and sensors on the Quest 3 aren’t as strong as those on the Vision Pro, Meta’s headset does gain a new camera array on the front of its visor. This array features two 4MP RGB color cameras with a depth sensor in between to produce a more realistic portrayal of the environment in which the Quest 3 is used, as well as full-color video passthrough.

The Quest 3 lacks an EyeSight counterpart because Meta placed their camera array where Apple placed the Vision Pro’s unique curved glass. Another item that’s missing is the digital crown at the top of the Apple headset, which regulates your level of immersion.

By default, the Apple Vision Pro is in mixed reality passthrough mode, but flip that digital crown to immerse yourself in a virtual environment. The Quest 3, on the other hand, appears to exist mostly in the virtual world, with mixed reality passthrough governed by the program you’re running.

Aside from these aesthetic characteristics, there are a few significant distinctions between Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3. The IPD of the Vision Pro’s lenses does not appear to need to be changed, but the Quest 3 has an IPD adjustment wheel. This should result in a considerable improvement in quality of life over Quest 2. The Quest 3 uses a Y-shape rather than the Vision Pro’s proprietary modular Head Band, while the straps on both headsets connect near the speakers.

Apple promises multidimensional audio with its “audio pods,” but other than their positioning, we don’t know much about the Quest 3 speakers. The Quest 2 speakers were excellent, therefore the hope is that the Quest 3 speakers will be an upgrade.

Before we get to the screens, there is one more significant design difference: only the Quest 3 is a fully standalone headset. The Apple Vision Pro headset requires you to plug it into a power outlet or an additional battery pack that fits in your pocket. The battery in the headset visor, like Meta did with the Quest 2, is not restricted with the Quest 3.

DISPLAYS :

Because the Meta Quest 3 specifics are still restricted, comparing the Apple Vision Pro displays to the Meta Quest 3 displays is difficult. But it would be a huge surprise if Meta outperformed Apple on paper or in practice.

The Vision Pro screens are simply outstanding. Aside from the front display behind the laminated glass that showcases the EyeSight function, the headset has two 4K Micro OLED screens, one for each eye. Apple claims that these panels have “wide color and high dynamic range,” although it’s unclear whether that means the displays accept HDR video in formats such as HDR10 or Dolby Vision, or whether they just have a particular amount of peak brightness and color gamut representation.

Pixel density is another major selling point for the Vision Pro screens. There are 23 million pixels between the two screens, and Apple claims that the Vision Pro has 64 times the pixel density of the iPhone, despite the fact that each panel is just the size of a postage stamp.

As previously said, Meta Quest 3 display information is currently scant. Meta has only revealed that “Quest 3 combines our highest resolution display yet and pancake optics to ensure content looks better than ever.” So, while the ultimate display resolution is unknown, we are convinced that it will be an upgrade over the Quest 2 and Quest Pro.

CONTROLLERS :

This is the point at which the Apple Vision Pro enters game-changing territory. There are no controllers, period.

Instead, the Apple headset employs a mix of cameras, sensors, and microphones to control the Vision Pro using just gestures and voice instructions. Natural gestures are also intended, since the cameras may catch your actions with your hands in natural locations rather than right in front of the headset.

Some chores don’t even require you to use your hands. The eye tracking should be particularly stunning thanks to a ring of LED lights in the headgear. One example Apple demonstrated at the Vision Pro unveiling was the ability to just peek at a search bar and begin saying what you want to search for. The Vision Pro would then begin typing out the inquiry without you having to raise a finger.

Unfortunately, the Meta Quest 3 does not provide a controller-free experience, while it does have hand-tracking features to lessen your need on controllers. At the very least, the Touch Plus controllers for the Quest 3 are more streamlined, without the tracking ring found on the Quest 2 controllers. TruTouch haptics are also included, a technology stolen from the Meta Quest Pro Touch Pro controllers.

This might offer the Quest 3 an advantage in gaming, but it’s too early to tell. We’re still waiting to see how native VR/XR games operate on the Vision Pro. We do know that Apple’s headgear will work with popular Bluetooth controllers such as the PS5 DualSense to play Apple Arcade games, as well as the Apple Magic Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad if you don’t want to rely on hand gestures or a virtual keyboard.

PERFORMANCE :

While neither company has provided detailed performance data on their two headsets, we can expect the Apple Vision Pro to be the more powerful. This is simply due to what we know is powering each gadget under the hood.

The M2 processor, which handles the heavy work for the mixed-reality headset, will give the Apple Vision Pro the power of an entry-level MacBook. It will also have a second processor, the brand-new R1, which will handle sensor inputs and guarantee that the display does not lag. Apple claims that the R1 processor keeps the input latency of the Vision Pro’s displays at roughly 12ms, which is comparable to many of the top TVs.

That is not to mean that the Meta Quest 3 will be powerless. The Quest 3 will be “our most powerful headset yet,” according to Meta, and will have an unnamed next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC processor. According to Meta, this new CPU “delivers more than twice the graphical performance as the previous generation Snapdragon GPU in Quest 2,” and further information will be released later this year.

Unfortunately, this Qualcomm chip will be a mobile SoC processor that will fall short of competing with the Vision Pro. However, considering the wide price disparity, this is not surprising.

BATTERY LIFE :

It’s time for the first genuine test of the Apple Vision Pro. To power this computer for your face, you’ll have to give up either mobility or battery life. The headset can only be used while plugged in, either to a power outlet for all-day use or to an external battery with a 2-hour battery life. If Apple discloses that you can connect it into a MacBook, that would be a tiny consolation, but we expect it would quickly deplete your laptop battery.

Meta has yet to provide any indications about the battery life of the Quest 3, thus it’s too early to proclaim it the winner. But, unless the battery life falls short of the Quest 2’s 2 to 3-hour battery life (I’ve personally pushed mine to nearly 3 hours), the fully independent headset should take a rare victory over the Apple headset.

APPS, GAMES AND OS :

Apple released its first new operating system in years with the Apple Vision Pro. This operating system enables developers to construct 3D mixed reality apps natively, however they are few and few between thus far. Our editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer selected Mindfulness and Encounter Dinosaurs as two visionOS applications that demonstrate the Vision Pro’s mixed reality potential in his hands-on review.

But it’s not only native mixed reality applications that will be available for Apple’s initial headset. Apple is also introducing iOS and iPad OS apps to the Vision Pro App Store, allowing you access to thousands of apps as soon as you turn on the device. Apple also claims that more than 100 Apple Arcade games will be playable on the Vision Pro, including NBA 2K.

Meanwhile, the Meta Quest 3 will be backwards compatible with the complete Quest 2 library of games and apps. That means you’ll be able to play all 500+ Quest 2 games right away. Finally, we anticipate that developers will use the Quest 3’s improved CPU and new mixed reality features to create exclusive games and apps for the device.

Finally, the Apple Vision Pro looks to be a productivity gadget rather than a VR gaming system like the Quest 3 or PSVR 2. In fact, while the Apple gear obviously has the ability to play games, there is little proof that it will support typical VR games and may instead stick to visionOS mixed reality experiences and Apple Arcade.

So, if VR gaming is your major focus, the Quest 3 may be the better option. However, if you want a device that can handle a wide selection of apps, games, and experiences, the Vision Pro and visionOS are the better option.

MIXED REALITY :

While both gadgets boast mixed reality capabilities, their techniques differ. Even with the crown that lets you to modify your immersion level, the Apple Vision Pro keeps you virtually always in the actual world. The default configuration looks to be superimposing applications and displays on top of the real environment around you, which is continually relayed to the headset through the array of cameras, sensors, and microphones.

The Vision Pro does not totally reject virtual reality – EyeSight, for example, copies your eyes onto a front display rather than having them visible naturally. However, this is not the only method Apple copies your identity. There’s also Digital Persona, which simulates you digitally for usage in FaceTime. Although it is a more accurate portrayal of oneself than Meta’s avatars, it is still a digital replica of your face emotions and body movements rather than the genuine thing.

The Quest 3 appears to make use of its mixed reality capabilities as well, albeit they appear to be more limited. The full-color video passthrough will allow games and apps to add displays and AR holographic overlays to your surroundings, although it’s unclear whether this will be your typical operating area. To enter mixed reality, it appears that an app will need to be built to take use of the Quest 3’s mixed reality features.

While Meta has yet to demonstrate its full mixed reality potential on the Quest 3, it did provide a glimpse in the introduction trailer. Watch the video to observe a Quest 3 user play the VR game Demeo. Instead of playing on a simulated tabletop, the game is played on a real table. This is a significant advance over the Quest 2, albeit it appears that outside of VR gaming, the Quest 3 will lag behind the Vision Pro in fully adopting XR.

WHICH HEADSET IS BEST FOR YOU?

To be clear, the Apple Vision Pro appears to be the superior mixed reality headset overall. This headset maintains you in the actual world, adding degrees of immersion as you see fit, thanks to exceptional specifications that put it on par with a MacBook rather than a reliance on mobile CPUs. If you wanted to replace your MacBook or iPhone, the Vision Pro might be able to accomplish it, despite not being as portable as either.

However, the Meta Quest 3 may be the superior VR headset of the two, owing to the fact that it is the only one of the two that truly embraces virtual reality. At $499, it might transport you between virtual reality and reality in a single headgear at a price you can truly afford. The $3,499 price tag of the Apple Vision Pro is prohibitively expensive for the majority of individuals.

So, if you want a truly mixed reality gadget, you’ll have to shell up for the Vision Pro or wait a few years for a cheaper alternative. However, if you simply want to try out VR games while also getting a taste of mixed reality capabilities on a standalone headset, the Quest 3 appears to be the better option of the two.

We’ll know for sure once the two gadgets arrive and we can do formal Apple Vision Pro vs. Meta Quest 3 testing.