The Meta Quest 3 is no longer expected to arrive this year, but the more affordable headset from Meta is still coming, so we’ve gathered up every leak and rumor we could find on the perhaps now mixed reality headset to help you decide if it’ll be worth the wait.
We’ll get into a little more detail in our release date section below, but we could be almost a year away from the launch of the Quest 3, so if you want something this holiday season you’ll need to take a look at our Meta Quest Pro vs. Quest 2 face-off or our best VR headsets.
With that preamble aside, here’s a look at everything we know so far about the Meta Quest 3, including the expected release date, pricing, features, specs, and more.
Meta Quest 3 release date
With all eyes on the Meta Quest Pro, the question of when the Quest 3 might arrive has been on the back burner for some time now. With the announcement of the Quest Pro and Meta Connect 2022 in the rearview mirror now, we can turn to Meta’s more affordable headset again.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to go on just yet. We know it isn’t arriving this year thanks to a Stratechery interview with Mark Zuckerberg in October where the Meta CEO confirmed that a Quest 3 would be coming, but “it’s not this year.”
That could mean that we will be waiting until October of 2023 for the next Meta Connect. However, the original Oculus Quest (RIP to the far superior name for this product) was announced at the F8 conference, which is held in the spring. Meta didn’t hold the event in 2022, but assuming it returns in 2023 and falls in the same April-June window it has in the past, that would be another likely launch date.
Meta Quest 3 price
Once again turning to the Stratechery interview, Zuckerberg told them “there will be a Quest 3 and that’s in the price range of $300, $400, or $500, that zone.” If I were inclined to bet on such things, I would heavily bet on the $400 to $500 range given that Meta bumped the base price of the Quest 2 from $299 to $399 back in July, with the 256GB version going from $399 to $499.
There is little doubt that Meta was taking a loss on the Quest 2 hardware at its previous price and with something of a stranglehold on the standalone VR market, Meta has little reason to drop back down to that range again.
Meta Quest 3 features
The Meta Quest 3 won’t reach the feature (or price) heights of the Meta Quest Pro, but according to a YouTube video posted by analyst Brad Lynch, there are plenty of design and feature updates that the Quest 3 will be borrowing from its upmarket sibling.
According to Lynch, the Quest 3 will break from its predecessor to become a mixed reality AR/VR headset, similar to the Quest Pro and the long-rumored Apple AR/VR headset. Given the importance and attention being placed on AR in the tech realm, this shouldn’t come as a massive surprise. Meta owns the VR market for the most part and will look to do the same with the AR market if it can.
The CAD drawings in Lynch’s video show a design not wholly dissimilar to the Quest 2, with the most noticeable change being the addition of a four-camera array with a depth sensor on the front of the headset for the aforementioned AR functionality.
A move to pancake optics, seen in the Meta Quest Pro and PICO 4, should allow for a boost to the resolution in the Quest 3 while maintaining a relatively thin profile. The Quest 3 should also bring back an IPD adjust wheel to better accommodate different eye distances.
Speaking of eyes, one feature that will be lost from the Quest Pro is eye and face tracking, although that may be good news to some that find that idea to be excessively intrusive.
Another speculative feature based on the CAD drawings is support for the Quest Pro dock and possibly Quest Pro controllers. This is based on a set of Pogo pin connectors on the bottom of the Quest 3 that match those of the Quest Pro.
Meta Quest 3 specs
Lynch also claimed to have insider information on the hardware inside the Quest 3. Unsurprisingly, the SoC inside should be a second-gen Snapdragon XR2 SoC. Qualcomm is the obvious choice for a device this small that needs to hit a high level of performance and power efficiency.
Other notable upgrades could include double the RAM of the Quest 2 (6GB to 12GB) and a storage jump to 512GB. Presumably, the storage would be for the higher-tier model with the base model moving to 256GB, but that is speculation.
Outlook
That’s everything we know so far about Meta Quest 3. Given that we are at a minimum roughly 6 months away from a launch and possibly closer to a full year, this is actually a reasonably complete look at the hardware. However, we are leaning heavily on a single source, so regardless of Lynch’s credibility we will be looking for corroboration of pieces of his report to improve our confidence.
The confirmation that pricing should remain at or below $500 is encouraging. While not cheap, after the $1,500 price for the Quest Pro and rumors that Apple’s AR/VR headset will be at least $2,000, this would still be easily the most affordable mainstream option.
The Quest 2 remains our top choice for the best VR headset, so we’ll be keeping a careful eye out for any additional rumors regarding the Quest 3 as we head into 2023. Meanwhile, if you can’t wait until May or even October of next year, we expect to see Black Friday deals on the Quest 2, so bookmark that page to keep checking for the lowest price of the season.
