Nerd goggle wars intensify as Mark Zuckerberg rips Apple's Vision Pro

Mark Zuckerberg shown trying on the Oculus-powered Gear VR headset years ago. Facebook

• Mark Zuckerberg posted a pointed critique of Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
• From price to specs to usability, Zuckerberg said he was “surprised” at Quest’s superiority.
• He needled Apple “fanboys” and those who thought it would be better “because it’s Apple and it costs $3,000 more.”

The nerd goggle review everyone has been waiting for is finally in: Mark Zuckerberg tried out Apple’s Vision Pro and he has thoughts.

The Meta founder and CEO on Tuesday posted a video to Instagram that was effectively a takedown of Apple’s recently launched mixed reality headset. Having used the Vision Pro, which retails for $3,500 and competes directly with Meta’s $500 Quest headset, Zuckerberg’s ultimate takeaway was his company’s product is not only more affordable, but just better.

“I have to say that before this, I expected that Quest would be the better value for most people since it’s really good and like seven times less expensive, but after using [Vision Pro] I don’t just think that Quest is the better value, it’s the better product period,” Zuckerberg said in the video. “They have different strengths, but overall Quest is better for the vast majority of things that people use mixed reality for.”

Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook have something of a feud going back several years now. So they were never going to become evangelists for each other’s nerd goggles. However, Zuck didn’t hold back.

In the video, he ticked off a list of features that were better on Quest: brighter screen, wider field of vision, more immersive content, no wires, no “blur,” lighter weight. The usability and comfort of Apple’s Vision Pro has been criticized since its release, with some people beginning to return the devices. Zuckerberg made sure to point out in his review that the Quest “is a lot more comfortable” than the Vision Pro. “We designed it to weigh 120 grams less, which makes a really big difference on your face.”

Compliments, with some needle

Zuckerberg did allow himself two compliments on the Vision Pro. He admitted it’s “eye tracking is really nice,” adding that a similar level had been included in earlier versions of Quest and will be put back in future models. He also said the Vision Pro has “higher resolution” than Meta’s Quest, which is also “really nice.” Even that couldn’t be allowed to stand without some needle, though.

“I was surprised by how many trade offs they had to make in the quality of the device — in comfort and ergonomics and other aspects of the display and artifacts to get to that [higher resolution],” Zuckerberg said.

Overall, Zuckerberg seemed to relish in the fact that Apple couldn’t do everything well. At least not on the first attempt.

“When I look around, it seems like there are a lot of people who just assumed that Vision Pro would be higher quality because it’s Apple and it costs $3,000 more,” Zuckerberg said. “But honestly, I’m pretty surprised that Quest is so much better for the vast majority of things that people use these headsets for with that price differential.”

Fanboy takedown

Then, the Meta CEO did the unforgivable. He mocked Apple’s legion of adoring fans.

“I know that some fanboys get upset whenever anyone dares to question if Apple’s going to be the leader in a new category,” he said. “But the reality is that every generation of computing has an open and a closed model. And yeah, in mobile, Apple’s closed model won, but it’s not always that way.”

Zuckerberg went on to position Meta as being on track to win against Apple in at least the mixed reality headset race: “If you go back to the PC era, Microsoft’s open model was the winner, and in this next generation Meta is going to be the open model. And I really want to make sure that the open model wins out. Again, the future is not yet written.”