Over the last couple of weeks, we've heard many, many opinions on Apple's Vision Pro. The VR headset launched to great fanfare at the start of this month, and represented Apple's boldest new product in years. But for all the praise, there's been plenty of criticism too – and throwing his voice into the latter camp is Mark Zuckerberg.
It's unsurprising that the CEO of Meta, whose Quest headset is Vision Pro's biggest competitor, is dunking on Apple's product. What is surprising is the casual nature in which he's done it – sitting on his couch and talking, in a seemingly unscripted way, into the camera.
Zuckerberg tells us he originally thought Quest 3 would be the cheaper product, but having tried Vision Pro, he now believes its the "better product, period." He points out that Quest 3 weighs 120 grams less, making it more comfortable, and that the wider field of view and lack of physical battery back make it a more versatile product. He also claims that the option for physical hand controllers as opposed to just gesture-based controls is better.
But the most surprising thing here is that the message appears to be working. Whereas in the past any kind of video message from Zuck would have been met with cynicism and snark, the laid-back, dare we say 'honest' nature of this one seems to be striking a chord. "MMA turned him from an awkward nervous wreck into a a confident fluent nice to listen to guy," one X user comments, while another adds, "He fried Apple's ass here. Honestly insane the CEO of a company of Meta's size would just shoot a video on his couch clearly impromptu and upload it and just absolutely wreck. What a king."
But let's not forget – we saw similar videos from competitors when the iPhone was released in 2007 (who can forgot Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer laughing at the iPhone on release?). Vision Pro might not be ready to hit the mainstream right here and now, but Zuckerberg might be eating his words in a few years' time.
