In 2014, Meta (which was still Facebook) paid $ 2 billion to acquire Oculus, the specialist in virtual reality. This operation had made the titles of the tech press. But these 2 billion dollars are nothing, compared to the money that the group has spent research and development, to improve technology in the past 10 years.
Indeed, mixed reality is one of Mark Zuckerberg’s big priorities, which is convinced that augmented reality glasses will replace smartphones one day. And moreover, we learn via an article from the Financial Times that in 2025, Meta’s investments in mixed reality could exceed the symbolic bar of $ 100 billion.
By relying on the latest group results, analyst estimates and its own calculations, the Financial Times estimates that these investments already exceed $ 80 billion. In 2024 alone, Meta invested $ 19.9 billion in virtual reality and augmented reality. However, this one should increase these investments in 2025, which means that Meta should therefore spend more than $ 20 billion in research and development, for virtual reality and augmented reality.
Towards an acceleration?
In any case, even if the Reality Labs division, which markets mixed reality headsets Quest, as well as Meta Ray-Ban connected glasses, does not yet take advantage, the group is starting to observe encouraging results. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg said that the group’s connected glasses, which embark Meta AI artificial intelligence, “are a real success”. He also indicated that 2025 will be a decisive year for this product.
Meta Quest mixed reality headsets have also sold for Christmas. And if Meta does not yet sell real augmented reality glasses, capable of replacing smartphones, it is close to this goal. Indeed, in 2024, Meta presented his first prototype, called Orion, which he will continue to improve.
- Each year, Meta invests billions of dollars in its Reality Labs branch, specializing in virtual reality and augmented reality
- And this year, these investments could cross the symbolic bar of $ 100 billion
- Reality Labs has not yet benefited, but Meta is encouraged by the success of her connected glasses
