Meta’s VR Prototypes: Jaw-Dropping Tech That Nobody Will Buy

Hello everyone. Let’s talk about Meta’s latest display of tech fortune-telling: two prototype VR headsets showcased for SIGGRAPH 2025. On paper, they’re the stuff VR nerds dream about – jaw-dropping resolution, absurdly wide fields of view, and enough brightness to leave you seeing spots for a week. In reality? These are expensive, impractical Franken-headsets that scream “Look what we can do!” rather than “Here’s what you’ll actually buy.”

The Tiramisu: Retina-Melting Resolution, Goldbrick Form Factor

The Tiramisu prototype is Meta’s latest optical overachiever – 90 pixels per degree, utterly annihilating the Quest 3’s pathetic 25 and even the Apple Vision Pro’s 34. To put that in medical terms: it’s like discovering a miracle drug that cures blindness… but you can only take it as a 20-pound suppository. This thing hits 1,400 nits and triples contrast ratios, blasting through the retinal resolution threshold like a speedrunner glitching through a level wall. Impressive, right? Well, sure – until you realize it offers a meagre 33 degrees field of view, about as immersive as peeking through a mail slot at a fireworks show.

Meta outright admits they deprioritized the form factor. Translation: you can skip arm day at the gym because the Tiramisu’s heavy glass lenses will give you neck gains worthy of a pro wrestler. As a consumer product, it’s DOA – too expensive, too heavy, too warped toward “spec-sheet heroics” instead of actual use. But as a science fair flex, it’s undeniably brilliant.

The Boba 3: Field of View for Days, GPU on Life Support

Now, the Boba 3 is clearly the more practical of the two – but “practical” here is like calling a rocket-powered skateboard slightly more street-legal than a jetpack. We’re talking a 180-degree horizontal and 120-degree vertical FoV. That’s not just wide; that’s “covering 90% of the human visual system” wide. Blink and you’ll still see VR in your peripheral vision. It also uses pancake lenses and some fancy curved polarizers to stop light from bouncing around like it’s trapped in a tinfoil ball pit.

So where’s the catch? Oh, just the small matter of needing a “top-of-the-line GPU and PC system” to run it – and even then, don’t expect it to show up at a reasonable price. This isn’t Quest 4 material; this is more like an indie VR arcade toy that eats $10 worth of electricity per hour. Great engineering, yes – but the kind of great engineering you look at, clap politely, and move on with your wallet intact.

Spoiler: You’re Not Getting These

Meta insists these are “purely research prototypes” with “novel technologies that may never make their way into a consumer product.” Translation: don’t hold your breath. We’re not getting Tiramisu neck-snappers or Boba 3 GPU-melters in our living rooms anytime soon. If (and that’s a big if) a Quest 4 or 5 ever borrows from these designs, expect a bland, watered-down version that trades half the wow-factor for affordability and the prevention of chiropractic bills.

There’s a whiff of conspiracy-theory energy here too – Meta’s openly talking about replacing TVs entirely, pushing us toward a future where every living space turns into a full-time wearable ad platform. They say they just want to make something “awesome.” Sure – and game publishers just want to “improve the experience” when they sell you horse armor DLC.

Final Diagnosis

The doctor’s prescription? Keep your expectations real. As flashy as these prototypes are, they’re prototypes for the sake of research theatre – brilliant, yes, but completely useless to your average gamer unless you’ve got a cybernetically reinforced neck and a spare nuclear reactor to power that “everyday” use. Tiramisu is an immersive microscope for your eyeballs. Boba 3 is a panoramic VR cathedral that demands a GPU sacrifice to the silicon gods. Fun to look at, guaranteed to disappoint if you think you’ll be buying one next year.

Overall impression: Technically jaw-dropping, practically dead on arrival.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.

Article source: Meta’s Tiramisu and Boba prototype headsets deliver hyperrealistic VR that the Quest 4 can’t match, https://www.androidcentral.com/gaming/virtual-reality/meta-siggraph-2025-reality-labs-prototype-headsets-boba-3-tiramisu