LG was previously tapped to partner with Meta to advance its XR efforts, however after high-level talks fell through, LG has now confirmed it’s closed its XR product division, instead focusing on long-term research and development.
According to South Korean news outlet The Bell (via UploadVR), LG is tuning down its XR efforts, which included the disbandment of the organization responsible for XR products late last year.
LG confirmed the news with The Bell in a Korean language statement, machine translated from Korean:
“Although the development organization under the HE Business Division has disappeared, research and development (R&D) is being conducted within the CTO division,” LG told The Bell. “We decided to delay the commercialization plan and focus on R&D.”
Previous reports from May 2024 suggested the LG/Meta deal was already on thin ice, as insiders alleged the South Korean tech giant wasn’t full steam ahead, but rather “controlling its pace”. Then, in June 2024, LG announced was shaking up its XR product division, which was unusual for the company.
The news comes nearly one year after Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited LG’s South Korea headquarters, where the two companies agreed to jointly develop XR products.
At the time, LG said hoped to bring its own content/service capabilities to Meta’s platform, which would suggest LG was mostly interested in a lucrative content deal. While unconfirmed, it was however rumored as early as 2023 that Meta was contracting LG to manufacture a competitor to Vision Pro.
LG has been a minor player in XR, having only productized a single XR headset, its 2016 smartphone-tethered LG 360 VR headset for immersive media viewing, which due to poor reception never saw a follow-up.
Then, in 2017, the company announced it was working on a PC VR headset for SteamVR, however the project was quietly abandoned.
