Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, today unveiled some new virtual reality glasses designed for professional use, a year after that multinational company changed its name and announced its desire to create the metaverse.

The new Meta Quest Pro, which can now be ordered for $1,500 and will go on sale in physical stores on October 25, features a number of technological advances that aim to improve users' perception of actually being in the presence of other people.

VR (virtual reality) goggles should allow the user's real environment to be seen, in addition to virtual worlds, thanks to high-resolution cameras facing outward.

Inward-facing cameras are used to reproduce the user's facial expressions on his avatar in the virtual universe he faces, such as a business meeting.

"If someone smiles or creases their forehead (...) their avatar should be able to do that," detailed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, quoted by Lusa, at Connect, an 'online' conference that serves to present the company's advances in VR, augmented (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies and services.

However, Meta is going through a difficult financial period.

After several years of amazing results, the company is facing cuts in advertiser budgets due to the poor economic climate and competition from other electronic platforms such as TikTok.

Today, the group also introduced new partnerships for its services in the metaverse to be used more widely, in particular with Microsoft.