LG refuses to dismiss rumors that its Meta Quest VR headset collab is off

LG and Meta's VR partnership was only announced in February, but recent reports have suggested that their planned “extended reality (XR) ventures” could already be in danger – and now a statement from LG has thrown the collaboration into further doubt. 

Yesterday a number of Korean outlets reported that the LG and Meta headset has either been delayed from its 2025 release until 2027 (as suggested by Seoul Economic Daily, translated from Korean) or that the partnership might already have ended altogether (as reported by Korea Economy Daily).

To get to the bottom of this rumored breakup we reached out to both Meta and LG. An LG spokesperson denied that LG and Meta were no longer partnering on various projects, stating that “LG Electronics continues its collaboration with Meta in various areas such as AI and the metaverse”. 

Notably absent from that statement is any mention VR or XR. And the LG spokesperson went on to add vaguely that “we will maintain a close watch on customer needs, the content service ecosystem, and market conditions, adjusting the pace of our XR business accordingly”.

Reading this statement, we’re a lot less certain that an LG OLED Meta Quest is in the works or will land anytime soon. Meta has yet to respond to our request for comment, but it doesn't appear to be in a rush to dismiss the rumors either – we'll update this story if and when we hear back.

This is all a bit of a shame, because LG and Meta’s VR partnership had us exceptionally excited for the future of Meta’s VR hardware – especially after seeing LG’s new OLEDoS displays for VR headsets. Unfortunately, those rumors that their relationship status has now at best switched to “it's complicated” appear to have some substance.

The two companies reportedly don’t see eye to eye in several areas, with LG apparently now looking to partner with other US companies such as Amazon. Analysts have speculated that this could be an effort to leverage Prime’s over 200 million subscribers.

There is evidence that Meta may also be looking to move on from LG. In its Horizon OS announcement it revealed that the excellent Quest operating system will be coming to Asus, Lenovo and Xbox headsets. 

LG’s absence from this list initially suggested that its Meta collaboration might be focused on sharing display technology for a Quest Pro 2 or Quest 4. But these new reports suggest Meta could instead be looking to supplant an LG Horizon OS headset with third-party alternatives.

An uncertain, yet exciting XR era

The Meta Quest Pro

LG’s Meta Quest Pro follow up might be off (Image credit: Meta)

Whether LG and Meta do end up exploring those previously announced “extended reality (XR) ventures”, we’re in an interesting new era for XR hardware. 

We’ve gone from Meta comfortably ruling the roost – at least in terms of standalone hardware and popularity – to it facing competition from some of tech’s biggest players.

The Apple Vision Pro is already here, and other devices that could be en route include a Google and Samsung XR headset, a Sony XR device (that isn't PSVR 2) and maybe an LG x Amazon collab project, not to mention the Horizon OS devices we mentioned earlier.

More choice and more competition is always going to be a blessing to those of us wanting to find the best VR headset for our own specific needs. So while Meta might not get LG's OLED panels for its next project, some promising headsets are still in the pipeline for 2024 and beyond.

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Windows 11 third-party apps break the Start Menu and Microsoft refuses to fix it

Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 version 22H2 update, which will be introducing several new features to the Start Menu interface, can also break said Start Menu if certain third-party apps are also installed on the OS.

Windows 11 update 22H2, which will most likely be coming out sooner rather than later in 2023 according to a recent report from Windows Latest, would add a feature that if you hover over a recommended file, a preview panel pops up showing relevant details. However, according to PCMag, a preview build of the update that launched ahead of the general release is already breaking the Start Menu.

Microsoft seems to have already narrowed down the cause: third-party user interface modification apps, such as ExplorerPatcher, which “aims to enhance the working environment on Windows.” But instead of planning a patch for the bug, the tech giant is instead suggesting that users uninstall from this list of third-party apps before they install the update.

But what if you already installed the update, and now your Start Menu is bugged? Then Microsoft suggests that you contact the app developer for a solution. This means that those already suffering from the bug could have a broken OS by the time the update officially launches.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft concerning the issue and will update this article with any official statements.

Who’s fault is it? 

On one hand, when a user installs a third-party app on their PC, they’re accepting the risk involved with that app. While Microsoft allows for users to have third-party apps, the developers of said apps are the ones responsible for maintenance and bug fixes, unlike Microsoft and its own first-party apps. So the tech giant refusing to fix this issue in particular is fair game, especially since it has its own list of bugs and issues to patch.

However, considering that it’s several third-party apps tied to a specific type and that Microsoft quickly narrowed down the cause, it’s clearly an issue with the update not playing nice with user interface modification apps. And Microsoft not offering any solutions, especially those with a now suddenly broken OS, is not a great look for an OS that’s constantly and consistently riddled with bugs and issues.

It’s technically not either entity’s fault, third-party app developers wouldn’t have a reason to suspect their apps would bug the Start Menu with this update, and Microsoft has a solid reason for not wanting to get involved with the cleanup.

Hopefully developers have a patch coming in soon to fix this major headache, though the most ideal solution would be for Microsoft to patch it instead.

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