Despite its success in developing AR and VR wearables, Meta
continues to face heavy losses for its Reality Labs division. At the end of the third quarter, Reality Labs recorded an operating loss of $4.4 billion, although analysts had predicted $4.68 billion, CNBC reports.
Image source: meta.com
However, revenue for the division, which is primarily driven by sales of the Meta Quest VR headsets and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, rose 29% year-over-year in the third quarter to $270 million. Meta CEO Mark Mark Zuckerberg is convinced that the development of VR and AR technologies can lead the company to a leading position in the field, which will become the next major platform for personal computers.
Image Source: Mediamodifier/Unsplash
However, these investments are costly for the company. Since 2020, Reality Labs has accumulated losses that have already exceeded $58 billion. Despite this, Zuckerberg continues to push forward with his ambitious plans to create a metaverse. In September, at the annual Connect conference, he presented a prototype of Orion AR glasses, arousing great interest in the company’s projects. Meta is also looking forward to the success of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and plans to recruit developers to create apps for the upcoming Orion AR glasses, which are due to hit the market next year.
Additionally, Meta released a new VR headset model, the Quest 3S, in September as a more affordable VR device option with a starting price of just $299. Last year, a more powerful version of the Quest 3 was introduced, starting at $499.