Asian Tech Press (Nov 13) -- Meta Platforms Inc. has struck a deal with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (0700.HK) to sell a new low-cost virtual reality (VR) headset in China, according to a report from WSJ.

Citing sources, the report said that the initial agreement between the two companies indicates that Tencent will be the exclusive seller of the Meta headset in China, with sales of the headset set to begin by the end of 2024.

However, the report did not mention the possible price of the headset.

The agreement gives Meta the opportunity to return to the Chinese market and compete with TikTok parent company ByteDance Ltd.

Just a few days ago, Pico, a subsidiary of ByteDance, which was originally a leading player in China's VR headset sector, announced a large-scale organizational restructuring.

Analysts believe that Tencent entered the VR market at this time, in line with the company's consistent style, that is, "follower strategy". First look at other companies to explore the road, wade, fall into a pit, and then fully summarize the experience, suddenly go all out, be the player in the closing game.

Meta's Quest products is currently the top seller in the emerging VR sector. And the company launched its new generation mixed reality headset, the Quest 3, earlier this year.

In China, Meta plans to use cheaper lenses in the headset than in the Quest 3, according to WSJ.

The report added that Meta will take a bigger share of device sales, while Tencent will get more revenue from content and services, and that the VR headset will also be able to run games and other apps developed by the Chinese company.