Instead, the company has opted to focus its efforts on the exciting realms of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). Nothing screams cutting-edge innovation like a friendly, efficient air conditioner.
This revelation comes courtesy of South Korean news outfit The Bell, which reported that LG had decided the XR market is not growing fast enough to justify continued investment.
LG later confirmed the news, but insisted it would still conduct some long-term XR research, presumably in the same way one might keep an old hobby alive while focusing on more serious business endeavors.
LG’s departure from XR development is particularly awkward given its recent entanglement with Meta.
In 2023, reports surfaced that LG was partnering with Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire to develop future Quest Pro headsets, with the first device reportedly slated for release in 2025.
By early 2024, the companies had formally announced a “strategic collaboration” to develop “next-gen XR devices,” but soon after, LG began backpedalling, saying it was “controlling its pace.” Loosely translated, that meant either a significant delay or outright cancellation, with whispers suggesting that the Meta-backed headset might be pushed to 2027 or scrapped entirely.
Meta conveniently failed to mention LG when it recently announced that it would be rebranding the Quest system software as Horizon OS and handing it over to third-party manufacturers. Instead, Asus and Lenovo were name-dropped as the chosen ones, leaving LG looking like the mad ex that no one talked about.
It seems Meta has quietly replaced LG with more willing partners, likely due to the company’s indecision and sudden interest in HVAC.
This isn’t the first time LG has halfheartedly dabbled in virtual reality, only to lose interest promptly. In 2016, it released a compact, smartphone-tethered VR headset that was universally panned.
A year later, it showcased a PC-tethered SteamVR headset prototype that it ultimately never released. Now, after another failed attempt at XR relevance, the company has decided that cooling and heating units might be a safer bet than competing with Meta in the XR space.
For now, LG claims it will continue XR research, though whether that results in an actual product remains to be seen. Meta isn’t waiting around for LG to make up its mind. With Asus and Lenovo stepping in, LG’s exit from the XR race will likely be remembered as just another failed experiment in a long list of tech companies that couldn’t quite figure out how to use virtual reality.
