LG Electronics plans to release an XR “device” early as next year.
The company’s CEO Cho Joo-wan confirmed the plan to a reporter from South Korean news website The Guru.
Because Korean doesn’t explicitly distinguish between singular and plural in the context of the quote, it’s actually unclear whether Cho referred to one “device” or multiple “devices”.
Cho told The Guru that LG Electronics has moved XR device development into the division of the company that makes its TVs to “speed up development”.
LG had a very short history in VR. In 2016 it released a compact smartphone-tethered headset for viewing 360° videos, to terrible reviews, and in 2017 it showed off a PC-tethered SteamVR headset prototype that it never shipped.
So what exactly will this new headset be?
Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Seems Likely
In October South Korean news outlet ETNews reported on a new “high end” XR chipset from Qualcomm, which turned out to be the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 revealed earlier this month.
Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Announced For Samsung Headset & More
Qualcomm just announced Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the chipset used in Quest 3.
Qualcomm announced that XR2+ Gen 2 will power Immersed’s Visor, Samsung’s upcoming Google-powered headset, a yet-to-be-announced new HTC Vive headset, a YVR headset in China, and Sony’s enterprise “spatial content creation” headset.
However, it’s notable that the ETNews report also mentioned LG as a potential customer of the new chipset.
Is It Quest Pro 2 In Partnership With Meta?
Also notable is that Meta is missing from Qualcomm’s list, despite Meta being the launch partner for XR2 Gen 1, XR2+ Gen 1, and the base XR2 Gen 2. Part of the reason for this might involve LG, if other reports are to be believed.
In 2022 South Korean news outlet SBS Biz reported Meta had entered talks with LG Display with the aim of securing OLED microdisplay supply for future headsets.
Meta Reportedly Partnering With LG For 2025 Quest Pro 2
Meta is reportedly partnering with LG to launch a Quest Pro successor in 2025, priced around $2000.
In September a third South Korean news outlet, Maeil Business Newspaper, reported that LG was partnering with Meta to build future Quest Pro headsets.
The report suggested that the first headset from the partnership was set to launch in 2025, matching the CEO’s statement, priced around $2000.
Given LG’s expertise in hardware, a partnership could be Meta’s plan to deliver a truly high-end headset to take on Apple Vision Pro and the coming Samsung headset set to be powered by Google software.
The Meta partnership remains a rumor though, to be clear, and for now all LG has officially confirmed is its intention to release some sort of XR device as soon as next year.
