Meta just pushed back its most ambitious AR project yet. The company's Phoenix mixed reality glasses - designed to rival Apple's Vision Pro - won't arrive until early 2027, a six-month delay from the original timeline. The setback comes as CEO Mark Zuckerberg orders deeper focus on profitability over flashy demos, signaling a major shift in Meta's metaverse strategy.
Meta's reality check just got very real. The company's secretive Phoenix project - mixed reality glasses positioned to challenge Apple's Vision Pro dominance - has been pushed back by six months to early 2027, according to internal memos obtained by Business Insider.
The delay isn't just about engineering timelines. Mark Zuckerberg personally intervened during recent executive meetings, telling his team to prioritize sustainable business models and quality experiences over rushing to market. It's a notable strategy shift for a company that's burned through over $50 billion on metaverse bets since 2021.
"This is going to give us a lot more breathing room to get the details right," metaverse leaders Gabriel Aul and Ryan Cairns wrote to staff, according to the leaked memos. The tone suggests relief rather than disappointment - a telling sign of how much pressure teams were feeling to hit the original timeline.
Phoenix represents a significant departure from Meta's current AR offerings. While the company already sells Quest VR headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses with basic AI features, Phoenix is designed as a true mixed reality competitor. The glasses reportedly feature an Apple Vision Pro-style form factor with an external puck for power and processing - a design choice that acknowledges the current limits of miniaturization in AR hardware.
The timing couldn't be more telling. Just this week, Bloomberg reported that Meta plans to slash its Reality Labs budget by up to 30%. That division has hemorrhaged money while struggling to find mainstream adoption for VR and AR products beyond gaming enthusiasts and early adopters.
The Phoenix delay puts Meta in an interesting competitive position. Apple's Vision Pro launched to middling consumer reception despite its technical prowess, with high prices and limited use cases hampering adoption. Google is rumored to be developing new AR glasses, while startups like Magic Leap continue targeting enterprise markets. Meta's extra development time could help it avoid Apple's early missteps - or fall further behind if competitors iterate faster.
