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Apple Vision Pro vs. Meta Quest 3: Which Should You Buy?

Meta is no longer the biggest name in face computers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Apple has earned your money yet.

After years of leaks, speculation and wishful thinking on behalf of those who aren’t thrilled about giving Facebook their money, Apple’s first step into the VR/AR world has finally been taken. The Vision Pro headset took center stage at Apple’s WWDC keynote Monday, promising deep integration with the Apple ecosystem and a serious charge into the world of gaming. In an effort to draw focus from this announcement, Meta’s own Mark Zuckerberg took to Instagram a few days ago to tease a new generation of the most popular VR headset currently available, dubbed the Meta Quest 3. The announcement was light on details, but promised two things Meta has become well known for: The Meta Quest 3 will be relatively inexpensive and will be supported by a massive and growing ecosystem. 

If both of these headsets were sitting side-by-side on a shelf and you could only choose one, which should you buy? Here’s what we know so far, and how to make the best decision for your needs. 

Hardware

Meta Quest 3 VR headset and controllers Meta Quest 3 VR headset and controllers

When it comes to face computers, there are three things that matter more than anything. The headset needs to be comfortable to wear for as many different kinds of people as possible; the battery needs to last long enough to actually enjoy your time in the headset; and it needs to have a processor capable of delivering a smooth overall experience. 

Comfort is by far the most important, and in that regard Meta has a lot more experience and has received a lot more feedback than Apple. Renders of the Quest 3 reveal a three-strap design, where the side straps are responsible for holding the headset on your face while the top strap helps distribute the weight. The top strap is split in the back, which means the headset is able to cradle the back of your head or hold a ponytail for those who need it. The pancake lenses allow for a thinner design than the Quest 2, which Meta debuted in the Quest Pro headset late last year, so we have some idea of how this will fit even without having used it. The same can be said for its controllers. Meta’s controllers are well known for being lightweight and extremely ergonomic, with an array of third-party accessories to increase the illusion of holding a sword or tennis racket when gaming.

Apple Pro Vision headset hands-on at WWDC 2023 in Cupertino, Calif Apple Pro Vision headset hands-on at WWDC 2023 in Cupertino, Calif

Apple says its expertise in creating displays, speakers and wearables come together in the Vision Pro.

Scott Stein/CNET

Apple may not have years of public hardware feedback under its belt for this particular product, but there are few who would argue Apple’s design team is not up to the job. Apple’s AirPod Max headphones, for example, are heavier than most but manage to be comfortable enough to wear all day. So when Apple revealed its design, which includes an Apple Watch-style crown to control occlusion, Zeiss lens inserts for those with a prescription and a two-sided strap with a wide angled pad in the back to hold your head, it was immediately clear the team has done its homework. A third top strap is available, but as Scott Stein points out in his hands-on, is not included in any of Apple’s demonstrations so far.

The glass front and aluminum frame of Apple’s Vision Pro headset make it possible for the design to be plenty thin, which helps the overall weight. Combine those two, and you’ve got a headset that will likely be pretty comfortable for many. There are no controllers for the Vision Pro. It relies entirely on eye tracking and hand gestures for its interface, but Apple showed it being used with a wireless PS5 controller for gaming.

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Watch this: Apple Vision Pro: I Tried Apple’s AR/VR Headset

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Battery life for both headsets is something of an open question. Meta has a history of releasing battery accessories to help the headset last for a few more hours, but the expected life for both the Quest 2 and Quest Pro is two hours, so it’s likely the Quest 3 will hover around the same.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset currently claims two hours of battery life when connected to the tethered battery, and it’s likely there will be battery extenders available either through Apple or third parties. Currently the average VR user spends about an hour in their headsets, but with Meta’s new full-color cameras for AR functionality and Apple’s focus on FaceTime and other nongaming features, it’s likely that number will go up with this generation of headsets. 

We already know quite a bit about the processors that drive these two headsets. Qualcomm has been working with Meta to deliver increased performance without sacrificing battery life for a couple of years now, and the XR2 Gen2 promises double the performance of the Quest 2.

Apple has a history of outperforming Qualcomm on phones and tablets with chipsets it manufactures only for Apple products, and the Vision Pro will be powered by both a new Apple M2 processor and a new specialized chip Apple calls the R1, with an enormous amount of computing power for all the cameras in the headset. It’s clear the headset will have no trouble competing with the Quest 3 on raw performance. And while having raw power is obviously important in situations like this, the proof will be in the actual use and what developers can get the headset to do. 

Ecosystem

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The Quest 2 has a raft of excellent games, like Moss 2.

Polyarc

There have been a lot of face computers released in the last 10 years, and most of the companies making them have long abandoned those projects. Having the most capable headset isn’t enough. You need to be able to do interesting things with it. It’s important to remember just how small this market is compared to the mobile app stores maintained by Apple and Google. Each of those boast well over a million apps serving an entire planet of connected humans. Meta’s App Store description claims “thousands” of apps are available for its headsets, but the Quest section of Meta’s app store is gearing up to celebrate 500 apps for the Quest 2 later this year. There’s a lot of room for competition here. 

Meta has been working for years to ensure a healthy assortment of apps and games on its platform, as well as a substantial if potentially ill-advised investment in the metaverse platform Horizon Worlds. A $10 million Creator Fund was announced back in 2021 to help encourage development, and as of this writing a third of the apps in Meta’s app store had made over $1 million. The biggest category of app for the Meta Quest 3 will be games, ranging from action titles like Beat Saber and interactive stories like Moss 2 to horror experiences like The Room VR. Education and exploration have a decent foothold here too, allowing users to explore museums and experience parts of the world they may never be able to see for themselves. When someone picks up a Quest 3, there will be no shortage of answers to the question, “What should I do next?”

An app menu in Apple's VisionOS. An app menu in Apple's VisionOS.

A list of apps as they would appear inside of the Apple Vision Pro headset.

Apple

Apple showed off some interesting concepts during its WWDC keynote, where it made the case for developers to make their own cool things for the headset. But that doesn’t mean Apple didn’t have plenty to show off out of the box. The big focus for Apple is extending all of the apps you know and love from your phone into the world around you. If you want a large display to watch a show or meditation exercise on, you can.

Apple wants this headset to be able to be used for work with access to Apple apps like Notes, Keynote or Safari so it can replace or complement your monitor. For gamers, you can play around 100 Apple Arcade games with a standard gaming controller like you would on a television with an Apple TV, but Apple doesn’t seem to have much in the way of immersive gaming like you’d see on other headsets. 

Which should you buy?

It’s impossible to have this conversation without talking about price. Meta’s Quest 3 comes in at $500, which will likely balloon to $600 if you want increased storage and more if you want accessories for improved battery life. And when this headset is available in the fall, it will be filled with tons of things to do and friends to play with, if that’s your thing. And between Zuck’s teaser last week and its release, you can be sure Meta will have a lot to say about what you can do with the passthrough cameras in AR and hand-tracking modes. It’s an impressive upgrade on a headset Stein dubbed the best VR headset for now in his Quest 2 review, and will be available months before the competition.

Apple’s Vision Pro is undoubtedly a unique way to experience the Apple ecosystem as it exists today, and it’s clear there are a lot of different ways to make the experience personal. It has an elegant look and a ton of features to keep you aware of the world around you when it’s needed. There’s no denying this is the most advanced headset to exist so far. But as an AR headset delivering something unique, it’s clear Apple is hoping developers will help pave the way. And with a $3,499 price tag, Apple needs to do a lot between now and when the Vision Pro launches in 2024 to show what makes it special.

Technologies

Verum Exchange Launches a $10 Bonus for Online Mining of Verum Coin and Bitcoin

Verum Exchange Launches a $10 Bonus for Online Mining of Verum Coin and Bitcoin

Verum Exchange is expanding its online mining capabilities, allowing users to earn a $10 bonus while continuing to mine cryptocurrency directly from their smartphones. The feature is available not only in the currency converter app but also within Verum Messenger.

Online mining has long been part of the Verum ecosystem. Now, the company has added a new incentive to the existing feature — a bonus for participating in online mining.

The concept of online mining is changing the traditional perception of cryptocurrency mining. Users do not need to set up specialized mining equipment at home or deal with complex technical configurations. The feature can be accessed directly through the Verum digital ecosystem.

Verum Exchangehttps://exchange.verum.im 
Verum Messengerhttps://ios.verum.im

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Technologies

Supreme Court permits certain Trump mail-in voting restrictions before midterm elections

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from implementing new restrictions on mail-in voting, allowing the administration to proceed with its plan to impose new requirements on states ahead of the midterm elections.

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump for now in his effort to impose sweeping new restrictions on distributing mail ballots, putting on hold a lower-court ruling that had blocked key parts of the plan ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The justices, over three dissents, paused a ruling by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out portions of a March executive order involving the U.S. Postal Service and voter eligibility lists. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

But the decision does not immediately allow the Postal Service to put its new mail-ballot system into effect.

A separate nationwide injunction issued Aug. 11 by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston still blocks USPS from implementing the new procedures for the Nov. 3 elections. The administration would have to overcome that order as well.

The distinction was central to the Supreme Court’s decision.

The majority said Trump’s executive order itself does not require states to change how they conduct elections. Instead, it directs federal agencies to develop policies that could later impose requirements on states. Because those policies had not yet been implemented when 23 states and Washington, D.C., challenged the order, the court said the challenge was premature.

The justices stressed they were not deciding whether Trump’s order or the policies developed under it are ultimately legal.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the majority wrote. “On that score, time will tell.”

The Postal Service last week finalized rules intended to carry out part of Trump’s order, including new requirements involving ballot envelopes, barcodes and information states must provide USPS. Those rules remain blocked by Talwani’s separate injunction.

The case now returns to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the underlying legal fight continues. Some states have already started preparing to send ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.

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Technologies

Trump targets Iran’s trade lifelines — here are the countries most exposed

Washington’s threat of “economic D-Day” collides with a small group of governments that account for most of what remains of Iran’s foreign trade.

The U.S. announced an “economic D-Day” campaign Monday to isolate Iran from the global economy, threatening penalties against “enablers” that continue doing business with Tehran.

The move is part of Washington’s bid to sever the trade lifeline that has sustained Tehran’s economy through nearly six months of war.

While enforcement details are sketchy, the threat could still put the U.S. on a collision course with some of Tehran’s major trade partners.

China

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and serves as a crucial link to the global economy for Tehran, accounting for about 90% of its oil exports, according to the U.S. government.

China reported $9.96 billion in bilateral trade with Iran in 2025, excluding the roughly $31.2 billion in unreported Iranian crude oil exports to China that year, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Independent Chinese refiners take in the bulk of it, often rebranded as Malaysian or Indonesian crude and settled through intermediaries outside the dollar system, according to Kpler. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned several of those refineries this year for Iranian oil purchases, while sparing Chinese financial institutions.

Beijing has openly opposed U.S. sanctions against Iran, arguing that economic pressure will not resolve the disputes. In May, China ordered domestic firms to disregard U.S. sanctions on five refiners linked to the Iranian oil trade.

While Beijing is unlikely to push back directly on Washington’s sanctions push, it will “quietly step up compliance” among state banks and oil companies to avoid getting caught in the net, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group, pointing to “a dichotomy between the official statement and the private practice.”

“Chinese authorities care more about dollar access in financing and market entry to the U.S.,” she said.

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has long been a major trading hub for Iran.

The bilateral trade amounted to around $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was its largest source of imports, contributing over 30%, according to the World Trade Organization data. The UAE was also Iran’s third-largest export destination, making up 12% of its shipments, totaling more than $7 billion.

That relationship hit a snag last week as the UAE moved to suspend all trade and financial transactions with Iran, following two ballistic missiles fired toward Emirati territory, one of which targeted UAE-owned tankers.

Iran has relied on UAE banks and its financial system to access the world economy through illicit, often murky transactions, and cutting off Iran would require more forceful actions from Emirati authorities to crack down on opaque financial and trading activity, according to U.S.-based think tank The Washington Institute.

“The majority of Iran’s transshipment, smuggling, and shadow banking activity takes place in Dubai, so Washington must do what it can to help the UAE’s national leaders in Abu Dhabi convince and cajole Dubai’s leaders to play ball,” Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official, wrote in a note on Monday.

Turkey

Turkey maintains significant commercial ties with Tehran, importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods south.

The Turkey-Iran bilateral trade reached $5.7 billion in 2024, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Ankara exporting mostly machinery and parts, chemical and agricultural products, while importing energy products from Tehran.

Meanwhile, under a 25-year gas supply contract between the two countries that expired at the end of July, Turkey’s imports of Iranian gas spiked this year while Iran’s share of Turkey’s total natural gas imports rose to 18.6%, according to local media.

While Ankara has sought to diversify toward other suppliers, expanding pipeline imports from Azerbaijan and Russia, it has, so far, not signaled that it intends to cut Iran off.

Iraq

Iraq, dependent on Iranian electricity and gas, has historically traded billions with Tehran.

Iran renewed a five-year contract in March 2024 to supply Iraq with up to nearly 660 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, and electricity imports from Iran accounted for more than 30% of its electricity generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Iraq-Iran trade reached more than $10 billion in 2025, according to Reuters, with Tehran exporting food, consumer goods and other products to the Iraqi market. The trade has dwindled this year amid increased security risks in the region and intermittent disruptions along border crossings since the war started in late February.

Iraq reportedly pays Iran around $4 billion to $5 billion a year for natural gas for electricity generation. The fresh U.S. sanctions could curtail Baghdad’s payments for Iranian energy.

India

India, among Iran’s top five trading partners, has seen its bilateral trade with Iran fall in recent years to around $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2026, according to India’s Department of Commerce, down from $2.3 billion in the year through to March 2023.

New Delhi primarily exports rice, tea, sugar and pharmaceuticals to Iran, and imports dry and fresh fruits from Iran.

In April, India resumed importing crude oil from Iran following a seven-year halt, after the U.S. temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian crude exports.

But those trades now will be tested if Washington makes good on its threat to sanction any entity, including Indian refiners, that have procured Iranian energy.

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