Welcome to Lowpass! This week: A conversation with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, and a look back at consumer electronics trends in 2023.

A quick housekeeping note: Lowpass is taking a break over the holidays, and will be back in time for CES.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth: Mixed reality’s first killer app is the browser

Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset has only been available for two months, but the device’s mixed reality feature is already popular with its users, according to new data released by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth this week. “There are already hundreds of mixed reality apps in our store where a majority of users have tried mixed reality features,” Bosworth wrote in a blog post Monday. Seven of the headset’s Top 20 apps offer mixed reality features, he added.

I wanted to know more about this trend, so I caught up with Bosworth for a chat earlier this week. Here’s what he told me about Quest sales, mixed reality, Meta’s efforts to bring its AI assistant to the Quest, and the things that still hold AI wearables back (hint: one of them rhymes with Snapple).

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Quest 3 just came out ahead of the holidays, and you’re continuing to sell the Quest 2. Any signals on how these devices are performing in the market at this point?