TechRadar suspects the headset in Kuo’s leak is not the premium headset codenamed Project Cambria, but the next iteration of Meta’s budget-friendly VR line. RoadtoVR begs to differ; it conjectures that the leak is, in fact, Project Cambria. YouTuber SadlyItsBradley (also known as Bradley Lynch), citing sources close to the matter, corrobates RoadtoVR’s conclusions.
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Kuo electrified the VR/AR industry after tweeting his predictions about Meta’s next VR headset. The prominent leaker said the social-media tech giant is poised to release a head-mounted display dubbed “Quest 2 Pro” later this year. The Quest 2 Pro will reportedly have two brand spankin’ new 2.38-inch, mini-LED, 2160 x 2160-pixel displays (an improvement from the Quest 2’s dual 1832 x 1920-pixel LCD panels). The upcoming headset also allegedly swaps its 1P Fresnel lenses for a 2P, pancake-style design. According to RoadtoVR, this switch “not only reduces the overall physical profile of the lens, but also allow it to sit much closer to the display itself.” As mentioned, there’s befuddlement about whether the Quest 2 Pro is the headset project Meta mentioned at Facebook Connect 2021. Lynch, an XR hardware analyst who claims to have a network of supply-chain sources, tapped into one of his connections to reveal illuminating information about Meta’s upcoming VR headset. As such, Lynch secured an unofficial rough-draft model of the Quest 2 Pro. “I finally got someone who is very friendly with the supply chain to give me a model, or a picture, of what the actual device will look like,” Lynch said in a recent video titled Meta Cambria’s Final Form. “If I’m wrong, I will literally quit YouTube,” he joked. According to Lynch, the Quest 2 Pro is Project Cambria — and it’s ready for mass production. Lynch listed some fascinating upgrades. Here are some highlights:
The Quest 2 Pro has more mixed-reality capabilities.Better IPD adjustment. The Meta Quest 2 only has three IPD adjustments that can be modified with a clicky mechanism. The Quest 2 Pro’s IPD adjustment is allegedly smore smooth, allowing users to target a more customized sweet spot.The headset is lightweight and well-balanced.There’s a dial on the back of the headset that can be adjusted to tighten the device on one’s head, similar to the Quest 2’s elite strap.The material that touches the user’s forehead is made of rubber or faux leather, which may make users sweat more than usual.No major upgrades to audio qualityEye and face tracking is allegedly excellent; the headset could even pick up the flaring of one’s nostrils.
After PCGamesN wondered whether the Quest 2 Pro will use its facial-recognition tech to transform real-life users’ faces into 3D avatars in the metaverse, Laptop Mag asked Lynch whether this is possible. “The cameras […] used for eye and face tracking are very low resolution, infrared cameras. There are at least five of them and they likely don’t cover the whole face,” Lynch said. “It’s more about sensing what your lips, eyes, lids, brows, tongue, cheeks, et cetera are doing — and then relaying that information to a virtual avatar that is set up for it.” It’s worth noting that Lynch saw another VR headset prototype that he mistook as Project Cambria’s final model. He said it’s similar to the rough-draft render he tweeted, but there camera array is different. When I asked him to delve more into this mystery prototype, he said there’s a chance it could be an abandoned model. However, he also wonders if it’s a Quest 2 Pro successor that may be announced at Facebook Connect 2023. As usual, take all of this information from Kuo and Lynch with a grain of salt. We won’t know for sure until we hear from the horse’s mouth. Who knows? Meta’s Gaming Showcase is rapidly approaching (April 20); maybe we’ll get some additional information next week.
