It's also possible that Meta is struggling because a $500 dollar VR headset isn't a broadly compelling experience given all the compromises they had to make to

It's also possible that Meta is struggling because a $500 dollar VR headset isn't a broadly compelling experience given all the compromises they had to make to get it to $500 bucks. "Smartphones" weren't the most dominant phone category until after the iPhone. It's really hard to know until units start shipping though.