Leaked Facebook MR Headset Confirmed as Project Cambria, a “High-end” Device Coming Next Year

151

Facebook today confirmed Project Cambria, the MR headset which was spotted in a recent leak. The company says it’s a high-end headset designed to roll out more advanced technology before being able to bring it down to the price point of the Quest line. Project Cambria is said to be launching sometime next year.

If you followed along earlier this week you’ll already be at least a little bit familiar with Project Cambria; the headset’s look was revealed in leaked videos, but there were few details to be gleaned from it otherwise.

Today during Facebook Connect the company confirmed the headset, which is codenamed Project Cambria. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the headset “isn’t the next Quest,” though it will be compatible with the Quest platform.

Image courtesy Facebook

The way Zuckerberg explains it, Cambria is a high-end headset (and will be “at the higher end of the price spectrum”) which will include advanced technology that the company wants to experiment with before considering bringing it to the more affordable Quest product line.

Project Cambria Specs and Features

We don’t know a whole lot of specifics about Cambria yet, but the company did confirm a handful of things.

For one, the headset will include “high-res color mixed reality passthrough,” which will make it better for mixed reality applications. It will also use pancake optics to reduce the headset’s bulk.

Image courtesy Facebook

Eye-and face tracking will be included to provide a more realistic representation of the user within the virtual world.

From the leak and teaser photos we can also see that the controllers are ditching the tracking rings and are likely tracked with on-board cameras.

Project Cambria looks like it will lean much more into its mixed reality capabilities than Quest 2 is currently capable of.

Project Cambria Release Date

Facebook said that the Project Cambria headset will launch “next year,” but offered no additional details on timing or price, though the company says it’s already working with developers to begin building experiences for the headset.

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.

Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."