Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has demoed a new virtual reality headset that the company is planning to release later this year — but he doesn't want you to actually see the new tech yet.
Zuckerberg posted a video using "Project Cambria," a high-end VR headset the company first trialed in October when it rebranded itself from Facebook to Meta.
Although the physical Cambria headset is pixelated out in the video, it does show the headset's display from Zuckerberg's point of view.
Zuckerberg describes the experience as "mixed reality," as the headset is incorporating the real world around him into the display.
In the video he plays with a little cartoon creature, pulls up a virtual workstation, and has a virtual fitness instructor beamed into the room.
VR and mixed reality hardware are key to Zuckerberg's ambition to turn Meta into a metaverse company – the metaverse referring to a future version of the internet which is primarily accessed through immersive technologies such as VR.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Reality Labs, the Meta division which develops its VR hardware, announced to staff it will be cutting back on spending.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that its chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth had told staff the division would no longer be able to afford some projects.
Meta has already sunk a huge amount of money into Reality Labs. The division generated net losses of $6.2 billion over the last two quarters.