Can Zuckerberg Project Cambria Demo Push VR Adoption in Mainstream Business?

Credit: Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently posted a teaser of the upcoming Project Cambria VR headset, set to be released later this year. Although the appearance of the headset was blurred out, Zuckerberg shared the mixed reality realm from behind the lens called The World Beyond (TWB). Leveraging Meta’s Presence Platform, TWB blends “the physical and virtual worlds together” and takes on a vast array of functions.

Based on Zuckerberg’s demo, users can interact with virtual pets, create virtual realms out of physical environments, work out with a virtual fitness instructor, and have a workstation with multiple screens that can be switched through hand gestures. “This is just the beginning for mixed reality,” Zuckerberg said while demonstrating Project Cambria’s capabilities. The demo serves as a slice of things to come as Meta inches its way to developing its own metaverse.

Meta also posted a Project Cambria preview on YouTube, which goes deeper into the functionalities of the headset and the Presence Platform. The Presence Platform comes as “a suite of machine and AI capabilities that enable developers to build natural interactions and mixed reality experiences on Quest.” As such, it has the potential to simulate and build on any form of physical reality.

As for Project Cambria, it boosts the realism of the Presence Platform through advanced reconstruction algorithms and high definition color passthrough. Reportedly, Project Cambria is just one in a series of next-generation headsets that Meta intends to release over the next several years.

Now, this begs the question of Meta having the potential to raise the adoption of VR technology through its Presence Platform and Project Cambria.

Paving the Way for the Metaverse

Although VR technology still has a long way to go to achieve mainstream success, recent virtual reality statistics emphasize its potential, furthered by the hype surrounding Meta’s technology. According to a 2020 study by Perkins Cole, the lack of content offerings comes as the biggest adoption hurdle for VR and meaningful user experiences for AR. Meta’s Project Cambria and TWB vastly expand the flexibility and capabilities of mixed reality to potentially offer an endless stream of applications and user experiences. After all, TWB can be leveraged to provide things or activities missing in a user’s immediate reality.

According to a 2022 IDC report, the shipments of AR and VR headsets grew by an impressive 92.1% in 2021, thanks in part to the strong performance of Meta’s Quest 2. Moreover, the number of units sold is expected to increase from 11.2 million in 2021 to 16.5 million in 2022, all the way to 50.5 million by 2026. The massive jump in sales appears to line up with Meta’s vision to gradually introduce the metaverse to the mainstream market in the next several years.

However, a likely concern brought up by recent data is pricing. 65% of those who do not own a VR headset cited cost as the reason why they haven’t purchased one. And sophisticated technology like the ones recently released by Meta won’t likely come cheap, particularly Project Cambria, which is set to cost around $700 or higher. The good news is the speculated price range falls within that of high-end smartphones. Meta can highlight its novelty and market the headset as a luxury item defined by cutting-edge technology and a world of endless possibilities to drive sales.