It looks like the teased Horizon OS headsets from Asus ROG and Lenovo won’t be shipping after all.
In a statement to Road to VR, Meta said it has “paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market.”
“We are in this for the long term and will reconsider third-party device partnership opportunities as this category evolves,” the statement continues.
Meta Horizon OS works with Asus and Lenovo headsets
Meta will rebrand its Quest software platform to Meta Horizon OS, opening it up to third-party headset manufacturers such as Asus and Lenovo.
This news comes a little less than 20 months after Meta officially announced that it was developing a third-party headset powered by Quest’s operating system, dubbed Horizon OS.
At the time, Meta said Asus was developing a “performance gaming headset” under its ROG brand, while Lenovo was developing “a series of headsets” aimed at “productivity, learning and entertainment.”
There hasn’t been any official information about the Asus ROG headset since this point, but rumors in January suggested it would have face and eye tracking and use a QD-LCD panel or micro-OLED display with local dimming.
Meanwhile, about a year ago at Lenovo Tech World 2024, the company confirmed that its Horizon OS headset was still in development.
Meta confirms that it will “shift some of its funds from the Metaverse to AI Glasses”
Following reports that some of Reality Labs’ budgets will be cut by up to 30%, Meta has officially confirmed that it will “shift some of its investments from Metaverse to AI glasses and wearables.”
The decision to “pause” programming for third-party Horizon OS headsets likely came in tandem with significant layoffs in Meta’s VR and Horizon Worlds teams that were widely reported earlier this month in media outlets including Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider.
Shortly after these reports, Meta issued an official statement confirming that it was “moving some of our investments from the Metaverse into AI glasses and wearables.”
However, today’s news doesn’t mean the end of Horizon OS headsets, just that they will no longer be offered by third parties, at least not in the near future.
Meta’s statement mentions building “world-class first-party hardware” for VR, and a memo leaked earlier this month revealed the company is actively working on at least two Horizon OS products.
Meta postpones ultralight headset, begins development on gaming-focused Quest 4
Meta has postponed the launch of its ultralight headset with tether pack to the first half of 2027, and is separately starting work on the gaming-focused Quest 4, a leaked memo reveals.
According to these internal memos, Meta plans to launch its rumored ultra-lightweight “mixed reality glasses” headset with a tethered computing pack in the first half of 2027, and recently began work on the gaming-focused Quest 4, which will be a “major upgrade” to the Quest 3, albeit at a higher price point.
Given this timeline, Quest 3 owners hoping to upgrade directly within the Horizon OS ecosystem may end up waiting another two to three years. That means Quest 3 will be Meta’s all-in-one flagship for 4-5 years without a direct successor. And when the successor model comes out, its price is expected to rise significantly.
Google’s Android XR is here
News of the “suspension” of third-party Meta Horizon OS hardware programs comes just over a month after Lynx revealed that Google had ended its agreement with Android XR.
Lynx is one of three additional companies after Samsung that Google announced were working on Android XR devices when it was announced late last year, the other two being Xreal and Sony.
First clip of Xreal’s Project Aura Android XR device in use released
The first real clip of Xreal’s Project Aura has been released. With a 70° FoV and tether pack, this device will be the second Android XR device to arrive next year.
When asked about the end of Lynx, Google told UploadVR that it continues to work with Xreal and Sony, and last week Google and Xreal confirmed that Project Aura remains on track for a 2026 launch as the second Android XR headset.
Meta’s Horizon OS is no longer available on third-party hardware, so future entrants to the standalone headset market are expected to use Google’s Android XR instead, at least for the time being.
