Today, South Korean technology giant LG Electronics announced a strategic cooperation with Meta Platforms on XR devices. Meta founder Zuckerberg made a special trip to South Korea to meet with LG CEO William Cho and LG Home Entertainment Division President Park Hyoung-sei at the LG headquarters to finalize the details of the cooperation. There are reports that Zuckerberg also showed the Quest 3 headset to William Cho during this meeting. This is Zuckerberg’s first public visit to South Korea since launching the Gear VR smartphone headset in 2014 in partnership with Samsung.
LG officially confirmed that the two parties discussed “business strategies and considerations for the development of next-generation XR devices” and stated
“LG looks forward to creating a unique platform in the XR field by combining Meta’s platform advantages and the content/service capabilities of its own TV business. Ecosystem. In addition, the combination of Meta’s core technology and LG’s cutting-edge products and quality capabilities will create significant synergies in the development of next-generation XR devices.”
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The “content/service capabilities of the TV business” mentioned in this cooperation may mean that Meta plans to introduce streaming media services to the Quest platform. By then, users will be able to use Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, and Services such as Paramount+ and VUDU. Currently, the Quest only supports a limited-featured Netflix app, and other streaming services are completely absent.
LG and Joint devices
This isn’t the first time Meta has partnered with an experienced consumer electronics company. Previously, Samsung was responsible for the hardware manufacturing of Gear VR, Oculus Go was manufactured by Xiaomi, and Oculus Rift S was jointly designed and manufactured by Lenovo. All three headsets carry both partner logos and Oculus branding. It’s unclear how the LG and Meta brands will reflect in the collaborative headsets.
Recently, there were reports that the XR head display by LG and Meta will launch in the first half of 2025. LG is responsible for the hardware and Meta is responsible for the software. There were also reports that Meta will cooperate with LG to develop the future Quest Pro head display. The price of the first device should be around $2,000.
LG’s headset may also come with Meta’s Codec Avatars technology, which aims to revolutionize remote communication by generating realistic portraits in real time through the headset’s facial tracking sensors. With Meta and LG joining hands to return to the field, and Google and Samsung joining, the high-end head-mounted display market currently dominated only by Apple may form a tripartite situation next year.
