Apple Vision Pro vs Meta Quest 3: What's the difference?

BESIDES a $3,000 (£2,390) price difference, what's the difference between the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3 virtual reality (VR) glasses?

Mark Zuckerberg, the man behind Meta, unsurprisingly thinks you get more bang for your buck with his offering – so let's break it down.

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Availability

First unveiled last year, the Apple Vision Pro is currently only available in the US.

So for people in the UK and elsewhere, availability is a huge difference between the Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3.

Price

There's also a whopping $3,000 price difference.

While no one expected Apple's attempt at VR headsets to be cheap, cost limits the entry point for many consumers.

While the Meta Quest 3 is much more affordable – in terms of VR technology – at (£479.99) $500 each.

Graphic

The Vision Pro has two micro OLED screens of 3,680 x 3,140 pixels.

This tops the Quest 3's dual LCD panels with a resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels.

The Vision Pro will therefore offer slightly better graphic quality compared to the Quest 3.

Although the Meta headsets have a wider field of view at 110 degrees, compared to the 100 degrees of the Vision Pro.

Meanwhile, both support 'passthrough' vision, where you can see the real world with the headset on.

Audio

On the audio front, the Vision Pro's two speakers, located on the device's arms, support immersive spatial audio.

The Apple Glasses are also compatible with AirPods and Bluetooth headphones and have a USB-C port that can be used as a headphone jack.

Meta's headset has spatial audio via near-field speakers, including in the arms of the headset.

They can also connect to earbuds via the 3.5mm jack on the side, or pair some with Bluetooth.

Available apps

According to Apple, there are more than 600 new apps created specifically for the Vision Pro.

Many are adopted from Apple's ecosystem, such as Messages, Notes, Safari, and the App Store.

However, some very popular apps are not yet accessible, namely Netflix.

The Meta Quest 3 has more than 1,000 games and apps in the Meta Quest Store – and Netflix – but users say streaming comes in at a low resolution.

Storage size

The available storage space on the Apple Vision Pro is significantly larger than on the Meta Quest 3.

Vision Pro users can enjoy 215GB/512GB/1TB of storage space.

While Meta Quest 3 fans can use up to 128GB/512GB.

Battery life

Now that you have the ability to have your own home theater behind glasses, you're going to need some pretty decent battery life.

The Vision Pro lasts up to two hours for general use, but up to 2.5 hours when watching a video.

Meanwhile, the Meta Quest 3's battery life lasts up to two hours.

For most movies this is fine.

But it doesn't bode well for those close to three hours in, unless you want to control them while watching.