The Meta Quest 3 has been officially announced by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and will be launching at Meta Connect on September 27 for $499.
The new headset will feature a refreshed design over its predecessor, including a 40% slimmer overall design, and a new Snapdragon chipset to power its virtual reality and mixed reality experiences.
It does mean you'll need you'll pay $200 more than the Meta Quest 2 for the privilege, so try out the latter if you want to save a bit of cash but still explore VR.
Read on for everything we know so far about Meta Quest 3.
Meta Quest 3 news (updated September 13)
- Meta Quest 3 specs leak — and it’s mostly good news
- This Meta Quest 3 leak is bad news if you have a Quest 2 — here’s why
- Watch out, Apple Vision Pro — Meta and LG teaming up on new Quest Pro headset
Meta Quest 3 release date
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Meta Quest 3 will be released this fall, noting that more details will be revealed at the Meta Connect conference on September 27.
And Meta has since officially announced that the Quest 3 will be in attendance on September 27 during Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Connect keynote speech. It is fully expected that this will serve as the official launch for the new Quest headset with an official pre-order date likely announced at that time.
We did get a leaked unboxing of the new headset and while it didn't tell us anything we didn't know, it was cool to see the headset out in the wild. It certainly looks slimmer than the Quest 2, as promised. Check out our analysis of the Meta Quest 3 spotted in the wild to see the unboxed headset.
And in a surprise development, the Meta Quest platform — including the Quest 3 — could be coming to China. Meta and Tencent are reportedly in talks to bring Quest headsets to Chinese markets, something that's been a struggle due to the risk of intellectual property theft and regulatory concerns.
Meta Quest 3 price
The Meta Quest 3 will start at $499, which is $100 than the Quest 2 and its $399/£399 price tag. The Quest 2 actually launched for $299/£299 but Meta has since ramped up the price. Hopefully, it won't do the same with the Quest 3.
There's no official U.K. or Australian pricing, but expect it to be around £499, and maybe somewhere between AU$629 and $700 for Australia. Interestingly, Aussies saw a price cut for the 256GB Quest 2, which dropped from AU$789 to AU$719, so expect competitive pricing in the land down under.
Overall, it looks like Meta is cranking up the price of the Quest headset. But that's likely due to an increase in the price of parts and the use of more advanced VR technology. And it's worth remembering, the Quest 3's price undercuts the $549 PSVR 2, and doesn't require a $500 games console to power it.
As a result of the Quest 3 coming, Meta has said it will reduce the price of the Quest 2 back to $299 for the 128GB version and $349 for the 256GB model.
And it looks like more people will be able to use the Quest 3 at launch than were able to use the Quest 2. Meta revised its minimum age requirements for its VR headsets to just 10 years old. This is a serious reduction in age from the Rift and Quest headsets' prior limit of 13 years old. It's also a lower threshold than the 12-year-old minimum age for the PSVR 2, which seems notable to mention.
Meta Quest 3 specs
Zuckerberg's announcement of the Meta Quest 3 didn't go into massive detail on the headset's specs but there are some core takeaways from his Instagram-based announcement. There's also been a subsequent Meta Quest 3 specs leak that fills in some of the gaps Meta's announcements had left open.
Note: Unless marked as "[Confirmed]" all specs below are still just rumored
| Price | $499.00 (for 128GB model) [Confirmed] |
| Expected release date | September 27 |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 (Gen 2) |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Storage | 128GB [Confirmed], 512GB |
| Display | LCD with 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz |
| Weight | 509 grams |
| Battery life | up to 3 hours |
| Backwards compatible | Yes [Confirmed] |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 |
First off, the Quest 3 will have a base storage option of 128GB, with “an additional storage option for those who want more space." It seems that this additional storage option could be a yet-to-be-announced 512GB model, and if that's true, that's a bit of a bummer. 256GB feels like the perfect storage size, and its absence could dissuade people from expanding their storage.
The second significant upgrade that's official is the use of a next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. What that chip will be isn't clear, but leaked specs for the Quest 3 suggest it will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 (Gen 2). Whatever the chipset is ultimately called, what is official is that the Quest 3 will have twice the graphics performance, so you can expect higher-quality visuals in VR games and experiences.
In terms of the Quest 3's display, no specs about resolution or refresh rate were revealed initially. Since the launch announcement of the Quest 3 though, the Meta Quest 3 has been seen at Best Buy online. In the product page listing, the Quest 3 resolution is described as a “nearly 30% leap in resolution from Quest 2” and the best resolution Meta has managed in a headset display.
This tracks with what we've been expecting. We thought the Quest 3 would hit a display resolution of 4,128 by 2,208 pixels or 2,064 by 2,208 pixels per eye — which falls in line with the "nearly 30%" metric. This should help harness the greater GPU power of the Quest 3. Subsequent leaks have also indicated that 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye will be the official resolution.
Meta still hasn't given us an official refresh rate for the LCD display, but a specs leak says that the Quest 3 will start at 120Hz out of the box. This tracks with our expectations and we would not even be surprised if the Quest 3 eventually pushed 144Hz in some VR games or with post-launch updates.
We also should hopefully get a RAM upgrade with the Quest 3. While Meta has yet to announce official specs, a leak indicates that the Quest 3 will get the same 12GB of RAM that the Quest Pro did. That's a significant upgrade over the 6GB of RAM onboard the Quest 2.
In terms of battery life, the Quest 3 is not going to be an upgrade. According to Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth, the battery life will be "About the same as Quest 2, plus or minus." But given the expectation of higher performance, hitting the same battery life numbers means that the battery has been improved over the Quest 2.
Meta Quest 3 design
The Meta Quest 3 has been completely redesigned from the "inside out" according to Meta. While the headset has the same overall aesthetic as the Quest 2, it's now 40% slimmer, thanks in part to pancake lenses. It also has a bold trio of pill-shaped cameras/sensors on the front of the headset and looks to be using an improved flexible material for the head strap.
There's what appears to be an additional button on the bottom of the headset, likely a wheel to adjust IPD, which should be a significant quality-of-life improvement over the Quest 2. The face shield also looks like it's been redesigned and could better block out any external light.
A flexible mesh appears to surround the Quest 3's lenses, which looks like they could more easily be adjusted for setting the correct inter-pupillary distance for the wearer; there's a rumor that this could be potentially motorized meaning IPD can be set with a press of a button. A look at a leaked unboxing of the Quest 3 shows instructions for using two buttons to adjust the depth of the facial interface and lenses (h/t Mixed) so it seems that this rumor could pan out to be accurate.
A leak of the Meta Quest 3 strap connector has some possible bad news though for Quest 2 owners thinking about upgrading. The new headset's strap connector is longer than the Quest 2's and has a cutout for the Quest 3's USB-C charging port. That means that Quest 2 accessories that attach via the strap are almost certainly not going to work with the new Quest 3 headset. It's not a shocking development — but it is a disappointment.
Overall, the Quest 3 looks like a more svelte and comfortable headset to wear for extended periods of time.
As for the controllers, Meta has redesigned the Quest 3's Touch Plus controllers to be more ergonomic — not easy to tell from the quick video — as well as sport TruTouch haptics.
The latter could give the controllers the same level of advanced haptic found in the PSVR 2's Sense controllers, which are fantastic and earn the Sony VR goggles a place on our best VR headset list.
Unfortunately, the Touch Plus controllers will — frustratingly — rely on disposable AA batteries. However, it may get a wireless charger, at least for the headset. An FCC filing indicates that the Quest 3 headset and possibly the Touch Plus controllers could both get a wireless charging dock similar to the Meta Quest Pro. Time will tell whether or not the Quest 3 gets this much-desired upgrade.
Meta Quest 3 potential features
We don't know much yet about features exclusive to the Meta Quest 3, but one nifty upgrade we know is coming is High-fidelity color Passthrough. This allows you to see the real world around you in full color through the headset, rather than in monochrome as is the case with the PSVR 2. As Meta pointed out, through the use of machine learning, and spatial understanding, the Quest 3 could let wearers interact with virtual and real worlds simultaneously "creating limitless possibilities to explore."
Don't expect any eye-tracking tech, however, which means no PSVR 2 foveated rendering for smartly rendering the things you're focused on and lowering the fidelity of things in your peripheral vision to reduce the strain on the GPU.
Another feature that has potentially been leaked is the headset's "Smart Guardian." In a leak, possible tutorial videos from the Meta Quest 3 show off guides to using a new guardian system to outline your room for obstacles. This is an upgrade on the existing guardian feature in the Meta Quest 2 that allows you to outline your space to ensure the safe use of your VR headset.
With the Smart Guardian, this work of outlining the space will be done with the mixed reality headset's camera array on the front visor rather than solely with the Quest controller. In the leaked videos, the Quest 3's cameras and depth sensor take in your surroundings, mapping out the entire room not only to provide a safe space for VR activities but to ensure that experiences accurately interact with the objects in the room. Meta has yet to confirm this new feature, but if it is real, it's a serious upgrade over the Quest 2.
We also now know that, like with the Quest 2, the Quest 3 will have some level of PC VR compatibility with Windows PCs. And, like the Quest 2, it'll get access to Meta Quest Plus. Quest Plus is Meta's VR gaming subscription service that offers two curated games a month to subscribers for just $7.99 a month.
Meta Quest 3 vs Meta Quest 2
Just because Meta has a new flagship headset inbound doesn't mean that it's forgetting about the popular Meta Quest 2. In fact, the Quest 3 announcement made it seem like the Quest 2 will now serve as the entry point into the metaverse for the near future, with Quest 3 providing the ultimate Meta Quest experience. Check out our full Meta Quest 3 versus Meta Quest 2 face-off to see all the biggest differences between the two headsets.
One difference? Meta may be giving away the Elite Strap, one of its best Quest 2 accessories, for free to select users. It's unclear how widespread this promotion is, but if it's legit, Meta could be giving away a $60 Quest 2 accessory for free. Don't expect anything similar for the Quest 3 anytime soon.
If you can't wait for the Quest 3, don't feel like you have to. Thanks to Meta's price reduction and its commitment to building out a Quest product line, there's never been a better time to buy the Quest 2. Check out our three reasons why you should buy the Meta Quest 2 right now.
Meta Quest 3 vs Apple Vision Pro
Meta isn't the only company out there with a new headset. Apple has announced the Apple Vision Pro — the company's first headset ever. And while both headsets show off their mixed reality features, the two headsets are genuinely different. And it's not just about the price tag and specs, both headsets tackle the issue of experiencing mixed reality in notably different ways. Check out our Apple Vision Pro versus Meta Quest 3 face-off for the full breakdown.
Meta Quest 3 outlook
While we don't know all the Meta Quest 3 details, it looks set to be a solid improvement over its predecessor. And with a growing library of Quest VR games to tap into it could be the headset to go for this fall if you're new to virtual reality.
The higher price might be a bit hard to swallow, but the technology on offer could be a quiet revolution for all-in-one VR headsets. If Meta can continue to build out the VR experiences and exosystem, the Quest 3 could be the headset to drive forward a move to the metaverse. Watch this space.
