I would be shocked if Meta can convince the masses to buy their headset over Apple's. If Meta tries to beat Apple on price, their headset won't be very capable

I would be shocked if Meta can convince the masses to buy their headset over Apple's. If Meta tries to beat Apple on price, their headset won't be very capable and won't be much different than what is already out there (which the masses aren't interested in). If they try to compete with Apple by releasing a similarly priced and similarly capable headset, Apple wins every time. I think you're underestimating how much people dislike Meta/Facebook/Zuck. And I'm not just referring to techies either. "Normal" people hate them too.