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[updated on 26-08-2022] The announcement for the much-anticipated Meta Cambria is narrowing to October 2022, with production costs indicating a price tag between $800 and $1,000.
In this article, we will cover all you need to know about Meta’s new era of mixed reality headsets, beginning with Meta Cambria, confirmed to be a virtual reality headset.
It is uncertain if Project Cambria is a codename for either Quest 2 Pro or Quest 3. However, based on statements from Mark Zuckerberg, “it’s going to be compatible with Quest, but Cambria will be a completely new and high-end product.”, combined with a higher price tag and mixed reality features. In other words, Cambria will be its own headset.
This further links with Meta’s upcoming virtual reality gaming headsets codenamed “Stinson” and “Cardiff”. Stinson, a higher-end model arriving in 2023, is said to be the Quest 3. Whereas “Cardiff” will be a budget version launching in 2024.
Meta is likely to keep its gaming and enterprise/premium headsets separate, as the Quest 2 is the best-selling VR headset in history.
Similarly, a more advanced and refined sequel to Meta Cambria is codenamed Funston and will arrive in 2024. Not much else is known about this iterative headset.
Following the splitting of Meta’s virtual and augmented reality departments, Meta has two AR glasses in their pipeline: Hypernova and Nazare.
As we wrote in Meta’s augmented reality roadmap: Project Hypernova will be the first to arrive in 2024, with Nazare being R&D titles for two follow-up glasses that are lighter and more advanced for 2026 and 2028.
Meta Cambria will be fitted with 16 tracking cameras, ten on the headset and six on the controllers. These will track your movements and create mixed reality experiences. Similarly, Meta Cambria will have embedded face and eye tracking, making the virtual avatars in Meta Horizon platforms appear more lifelike by mimicking your facial expressions. A feature-set that also has key enterprise use-cases.
The same should be expected with embedded hand tracking, based on the recent update adding hand tracking to Quest 2. Again, a feature that enables key enterprise use-cases.
Meta Cambria will feature the novel Pancake lens instead of the standard Fresnel lens, enabling a slimmer profile, lighter weight, and generally improved ergonomics and comfort. A similar headset also utilizing the Pancake lens design is the HTC VIVE Flow.
Rumors claim Meta Cambria will have 2.48-inch mini-LED display engines with 2160×2160 resolution per eye, running at 90Hz. Internally sources that tech leaker Bradley Lynch spoke to stated that the visual experience will be similar to the Quest 2.
The processing for Meta Cambria will be the same as Quest 2; the XR2 platform from Qualcomm.
Therefore, the notable features of Meta Cambria will be its slimmer and lighter design with its capable mixed reality attributes.
Based on leaks indicating Cambria’s production volume of 2 million units for its launch period, hinting at Meta’s sales expectations are to be measured. This can be construed as the asking price is high. For example, Zuckerberg explained in an interview, “Cambria will be a completely new, advanced, and high-end product and it’ll be at the higher end of the price spectrum too.”
To narrow in a price, the leaker and YouTuber, Brad Lynch, mentioned from supply chain analyst reports that Cambria’s material cost is $800. However, Meta has a history of subsidizing its virtual reality hardware to keep a competitive price. With this in mind, Project Cambria will likely be priced between $800 and $1,000, considering the head-to-head with Valve Index.
In an earnings call in Q1 2022, Mark Zuckerberg addressed the Meta investors, saying, “Later this year, we’ll release a higher-end headset, codenamed Project Cambria”. Mark concluded the segment with, “We’ll share more details about Project Cambria in the months ahead as we get ready to launch it.” In a recent interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg mentioned Cambria will be announced in October 2022 at Facebook’s Connect event.
This confirms what Brad Lynch, well-known technology leaker, alluded to, in that Cambria will be announced at Meta’s October Connect event.
It is therefore likely that the launch could coincide with this year’s holiday season or early next year. An assumption echoed by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Meta Cambria is a premium, mixed reality headset that will be released later this year. Its most notable features are a slimmer and lighter design, and built-in face and eye tracking for AR capabilities. Similarly, the cost of the headset is expected to be between $800 and $1,000. In conclusion, Meta Cambria will either be a Quest 2 Pro or the beginning for Meta to enter the enterprise and prosumer headset market. The Meta headset roadmap surely does indicate this new era of Meta headsets.
