Category: LG

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LG Shakes Up XR Division, Reportedly Putting Meta Headset Partnership on Ice

Korean media last month alleged that the Meta/LG partnership to create a high-end XR headset wasn’t going so well, suggesting either outright cancellation or a delay pushing release of a prospective Apple Vision Pro competitor to 2027. While this hasn’t been substantiated by either company, it’s clear there’s something big going on under the surface, as LG is now shuffling employees from its XR division to other parts of the company.

As confirmed by Korean outlet ETNews (Korean), LG is reassigning employees in charge of the XR division to research and development and other business divisions within the company.

Here’s the official statement from LG obtained by ETNews, machine translated from Korean to English:

“We have recently confirmed the relocation policy for personnel in charge of the XR business. Taking into account the department and work location desired by the personnel and the demand for additional personnel in other departments, the relocation will take place for about a month.”

ETNews reports that the nature of the shakeup is “unusual” in LG, as such cases of forming a product division after research and development comes as a rare occurrence.

The report further stipulates LG has delayed its own XR tech indefinitely, and terminated its joint commercialization of a product with Meta. The report however maintains the two companies will continue in research and development of XR technologies.

When LG announced its collaboration with Meta in May, it was said the partnership would be focused on strengthening “the fusion of Meta’s diverse core technological elements with LG’s cutting-edge product and quality capabilities [promising] significant synergies in next-gen XR device development.”

While not explicitly stated by either LG or Meta, it was rumored the two has been working to create a competitor to Apple Vision Pro for launch in 2025.

One possible reason for the XR shakeup could be Meta is getting ready to release its XR operating system to third-party OEMs for the first time, which will include new Quest-style headsets coming from ASUS, Lenovo, and Xbox. Growing the number of competing devices that will use Meta’s HorizonOS (ex-QuestOS) and Horizon Store (ex-Quest Store) so rapidly may have spoiled the deal for LG—although without confirmation from either company, that remains conjecture at this time.

The post LG Shakes Up XR Division, Reportedly Putting Meta Headset Partnership on Ice appeared first on Road to VR.

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Meta and LG Confirm Partnership to “Accelerate XR Business” in Wake of Vision Pro Launch

LG announced a collaboration with Meta focused on strengthening the XR business of both companies.

Following the release of Vision Pro, it has become apparent that Apple has a serious game plan for its XR line of devices. Now that their product and focus is out in the open, the market is beginning to respond.

Today LG formally announced a partnership with Meta, which the two companies hope will “expedite [their] XR” ventures.

According to the announcement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met at LG’s Seoul headquarters with top executives, including William Cho, CEO and Park Hyoung-sei, President of the company’s Home Entertainment division. The two-hour conversation apparently saw LG executives trying Meta’s latest XR hardware, Quest 3 and Ray Ban smart glasses.

As for the conclusion of the meeting and newly announced partnership, “LG envisions that by bringing together Meta’s platform with its own content/service capabilities from its TV business, a distinctive ecosystem can be forged in the XR domain, which is one of the company’s new business areas,” the announcement reads. “Moreover, the fusion of Meta’s diverse core technological elements with LG’s cutting-edge product and quality capabilities promises significant synergies in next-gen XR device development.”

While it isn’t clear exactly what the two companies plan to build together, rumors suggest that a next-gen Quest Pro 2—to compete more directly with Vision Pro—could be on the docket.

As a maker of a huge array of consumer electronics, it’s expected that LG would do the heavy lifting on the manufacturing side, while Meta handles the headset’s hardware design. LG also has content and services from its significant TV business, which it could leverage to get more media content officially onto Quest headsets.

LG isn’t a stranger to the XR space, but hasn’t been particularly committed to it as a product category. Early on the company launched the LG 360 VR, a smartphone-tethered headset made for immersive media viewing. After finding little traction with customers, the product never saw a second generation.

In 2017 LG was on the cusp of launching a PC VR headset for SteamVR. It even went as far as publicly showcasing prototypes and announcing specs. But for some reason the headset never actually launched, and was left to fade into the history books without any official confirmation about what happened to the project.

According to LG, the company newly established a dedicated XR business unit within its Home Entertainment Company “to accelerate the pursuit of new ventures in the virtual space arena.”

The post Meta and LG Confirm Partnership to “Accelerate XR Business” in Wake of Vision Pro Launch appeared first on Road to VR.

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Meta is Reportedly Partnering with LG to Create Apple Vision Pro Competitor

Meta is reportedly teaming up with South Korean tech giant LG Electronics to offer up competition to the Apple’s forthcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which is slated to arrive sometime in 2024.

South Korea’s Maekyung (Korean) is reporting on two new Meta headsets: a low-cost Quest model that will be priced at “less than $200” coming in 2024, and a high-priced model in a joint venture with LG in 2025, which is supposedly set to take on Apple Vision Pro.

The report maintains the name of the Meta/LG headset will be ‘Meta Quest 4 Pro’.

Mass production of the so-called Quest 4 Pro is allegedly being handled by LG Electronics, and LG Display, with LG Innotek and LG Energy Solution supplying parts.

Provided the report is true, it seems some very distinct battle lines are being drawn. Samsung announced earlier this year that it was working with Qualcomm and Google to develop an Android-powered XR device, which may also be positioned to compete against Apple and Meta.