Meta Quest 4 ‘Canceled’ In Favor Of New Style Of Headset
June 3, 2025
Meta is has sidelined a direct Meta Quest 4 successor to today’s Quest 3, with plans to instead release a lower-weight headset next year.
This is according to UploadVR, which says it has corroboration from “multiple sources.”
It’s bad news for those who love the Meta Quest series as it is. But it is also probably not as bad as it sounds.
The suggestion is Meta has cancelled an existing Meta Quest 4-style project, not that Meta will never make another headset in that style.
It means Meta next plans instead to release a headset that keeps its power and computing brains in an external housing, a puck, in order to keep the weight of the headset itself low.
Such a style is seen in the Apple Vision Pro and the upcoming Android XR-powered Samsung Project Moohan headset.
Meta Quest 4: What’s Coming Instead?
This upcoming Meta headset is expected to be much lighter and slighter than either of those, though. Earlier reports suggest this concept, codenamed Puffin, will look closer to a beefed-up set of sunglasses than a VR headset.
You might look to XReal’s Project Aura pair for a hint as to how Meta’s upcoming headset might turn out. That pair will use Android XR, and is expected to land in early 2026.
The utility of such a deviation from Meta’s existing headset designs is clear. It’s a wearable much more appealing to use when not at home, compared to a Meta Quest 3.
It will run the same HorizonOS software as today’s Meta headsets, enabling the use of countless apps, if likely with a narrower field of view. This effectively means the virtual screen created by the Meta Puffin will appear smaller.
UploadVR suggests the exact display tech for this headset has not yet been picked. Again, XReal’s products can be taken as an indicator as to what is already possible.
Its Air One glasses have a 1080p microOLED display that, according to the marketing blurb, can create the impression of a 147-inch screen sat in front of you.
While Meta has not revealed any timeline for its upcoming releases, this latest report suggests the low-weight headset will be released next year, ahead of a more conventional Meta Quest 4-style VR headset in 2027.
This will represent a filling-out of what will eventually become a spectrum of smart wearables. At one end there are screen-free smart glasses, just like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses available today. At the other are full-on VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3.
Search
RECENT PRESS RELEASES
