Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has criticized Apple's pricing strategy by claiming that the tech giant typically "charges as much as it can" for hardware, whereas Meta will take a different approach by selling products like its new $1500 AR/VR headset at a "break even" price point, or in some cases even a loss (via Business Insider).
In a podcast interview following the launch of Meta's new "Quest Pro" headset, Zuckerberg said it's natural for hardware companies to want to make a profit on product sales, but that Apple seeks to charge customers as much as possible. In contrast, Zuckerberg said Meta will take a different route with its portfolio of hardware products, and claimed his company may make no profit from some of its sales and will instead rely on revenue generated by software and services offered in the metaverse.
I think the business model will be disruptive, in that it's typically people build hardware and they try to make a profit off of it, where if you're Apple, you build hardware and you charge as much as you can for it. I do think that having someone come into the space and basically say, "We're going to build the best hardware in the space and we're going to basically sell it at a break-even point and in some cases, maybe even slightly at a loss in order to basically help grow the ecosystem with the business model of basically having the revenue come through software and services", that business strategy I think is aligned with the mission of basically connecting people and having people there because if you want to build a social experience, you have to have the people there.
This week, Meta announced the Quest Pro, its latest AR/VR headset for the so-called "metaverse." At $1500, the Quest Pro is the high-end successor model to the Meta Quest and boasts a more comfortable design, more advanced display technology, and sensors that can read a user's emotions and facial movements, according to Meta. Apple's AR/VR headset is rumored to be announced in January, and you can learn more about it by checking out our AR/VR roundup.
Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.
iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)
At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
We've still got months to go before the new iPhone 17 models come out, but a combination of dummy models and leaks have given us some insight into what we can expect in terms of camera changes.
Apple is adding new camera features, and changing the design of the camera bump for some models. You might be skeptical of dummy models, but over the years, they've proven to be a highly accurate...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Wednesday April 30, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In a victory for Epic Games, Apple was today found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to allow developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has been handling the Apple vs. Epic Games dispute for the last five years, said that Apple is in "willful violation" of the injunction she issued to ...
Spotify today submitted an app update to Apple that will include information on Spotify plan costs and options to subscribe through weblinks without using the in-app purchase system. Spotify will not need to pay a fee to Apple when customers subscribe to the service using alternate payment methods in the Spotify app.
In a blog post announcing the changes, Spotify said that yesterday's ruling ...
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.
Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
Apple's is continually working with suppliers on successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a picture forming of what to expect from Apple's 2026 smartphone lineup.
If you're skipping this year's upcoming iPhone 17 series, or just plain curious about Apple's plans...
A subset of Apple's software engineers started internal development of iOS 19.4 last month, according to the MacRumors visitor logs.
iOS 19.4 is expected to be released in March or April next year, so the software update is still nearly a year away. However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and...
[HEADING=2]Zuckerberg: Apple 'Charges As Much As It Can' for Hardware, But Meta Is Willing to Sell at a Loss to…[S]Grow the Metaverse[/S]… Track as many people as possible[/HEADING]
