Meta will reportedly bring "Quest 3 Lite" products to China through a deal with Tencent

据《华尔街日报》报道，Meta计划通过与腾讯的交易，将Quest 3的廉价版本引入中国。

The Wall Street Journal and Tencent are aiming to sell the Quest head-mounted display in China, first reported in February this year by Chinese news outlet 36Kr, although the report claimed the product was a planned launch for the Quest 2.

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that the partnership faced "challenges" because of Mark Zuckerberg's past comments in China. today'snew reportindicated that the issues had been resolved and called the partnership "tentative" with details still "subject to change."

Quest 3 Lite?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the head-mounted display being sold will use cheaper lenses than the Quest 3 but a more powerful GPU than the Quest 2, and will also be sold outside of China. Based on other reports from the past year, it's clear which head-mounted display the report is referring to.

A Meta roadmap leaked to The Verge reveals that the company plans to launch a new head-mounted display after the Quest 3 in 2024 at a price point "most attractive to the VR consumer market."

Last month, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that the new head-mounted display would replace the Quest 2, while a previously reliable Chinese analystsayThe headset will use the Quest 2's old Fresnel lens, dubbed "Quest 3 Lite," and be powered by the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset as the Quest 3.

Tencent cooperates with ByteDance to compete

To sell various products in China, foreign companies must cooperate with Chinese companies or establish local subsidiaries. Tencent will reportedly sell and support Quest headsets in China, while the two companies will work together to localize and translate Quest store content. Meta will reportedly receive the majority of device revenue, while Tencent will receive the majority of content revenue.

For Tencent, this is not a novel arrangement. It has been selling and supporting Nintendo Switch in the Chinese market since 2019. 36Kr reported that the executive responsible for Tencent’s Meta Quest project is the same executive responsible for cooperation with Nintendo.

Reuters reported earlier this year that Tencent abandoned a VR headset it was developing because of the high cost of the project and internal forecasts that it would not be profitable until 2027. 36Kr reports that Tencent will cooperate with ByteDance in 2021biddingZhike did not lose because ByteDance’s bid was significantly higher.

与此同时，字节跳动本周裁员了PICO的大部分员工。PICO将保留其硬件团队，但据报道，大部分软件团队将被“整合进”字节跳动。PICO 4平台的短期未来似乎并不明朗。

Is Meta’s plan with Tencent one of the reasons why ByteDance decided to “reorganize” PICO? Will Meta's entry into its home market just cause more trouble for TikTok's parent company's VR efforts?