Meta Launches $1,299 VR Glasses to Challenge Apple Vision Pro

Meta has officially unveiled its new virtual reality hardware, called Meta VR Glasses, priced at $1,299 to directly challenge rival Apple’s Vision Pro.

For years, virtual reality headsets were known for being bulky, heavy plastic goggles that strap tightly around a user’s head, often causing neck strain and face fatigue during long sessions.

To fix this problem, Meta completely redesigned its hardware by separating the heavy computer parts from the display frame.

Weighing only 100 grams on the face, the new glasses feel almost like wearing ordinary sunglasses, making virtual reality comfortable enough to wear for hours while working, streaming movies, or playing games.

The major hardware unveiling was delivered live on stage by Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s annual Meta Connect technology conference in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

Meta confirmed that the $1,299 headset will officially begin shipping to consumers in spring 2027 across North America, Europe, and Asia.

To achieve its lightweight design, Meta housed the heavy processor chip, cooling fan, storage drive, and battery inside a small external module called a compute puck.

The separate puck clips onto a user’s belt or slips into a pocket, connecting to the glasses through a flexible cable to keep heavy hardware off the wearer’s face.

The primary reason Meta is introducing these lightweight VR Glasses right now is to win over everyday consumers who found older virtual reality headsets too heavy, uncomfortable, or expensive.

At $1,299, Meta’s new device costs about one-third of Apple’s $3,699 Vision Pro while offering similar capabilities, including sharp displays, eye tracking, hand gestures, and full-color pass-through cameras that let users see the physical room around them.

Moving heavy battery and computing parts into a pocket puck allows Meta to offer a comfortable facial screen that can project multiple giant computer monitors onto any wall, display 3D IMAX movies, and run full-body holographic video calls.

Explaining why the company embraced a lighter split design after studying rival products in the market, Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth stated that competitors “missed the mark in that you just couldn’t wear that thing for very long,” adding that “it wasn’t glasses; you looked goofy wearing it”.

Highlighting how pioneer tech products inspired Meta’s external pack architecture, Andrew Bosworth credited rival developers, saying “I think they definitely were pioneers on some of those pieces for us and did the heavy lifting”.

Detailing how personal superintelligence and smaller hardware frames represent the future of digital computing, Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg shared during the event keynote that “it’s now clear that personal superintelligence will not only come first, it will be much bigger and more important”.

By launching $1,299 VR Glasses that weigh just 100 grams, Meta is pushing spatial computing into mainstream everyday use.

Offering a lightweight, comfortable screen at a far lower price point ensures that everyday users can enjoy spatial entertainment, virtual offices, and holographic communication comfortably.