Oculus Quest 2 killer upgrade just confirmed by Facebook

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By Roland Moore-Colyer
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Oculus Quest 2 should get 120Hz upgrade — here’s how

Oculus Quest 2
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Oculus Quest 2 could be getting a big upgrade in the form of a 120Hz refresh rate, which should deliver a smoother virtual reality experience. 

TechRadar reported that in an Q&A on Instagram Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth, vice president at Facebook Reality Labs, gave a thumbs up — literally — as an answer to a question about whether the Oculus Quest 2 will get an upgrade to a 120Hz refresh rate. 

The Oculus Quest 2 currently sports a 90Hz refresh rate following a software update last year that improved upon the 72Hz refresh rate. 

This delivers a reasonably comfortable VR experience; in fact, the Quest 2 is our top pick in our best VR headsets list. But a boost to 120Hz would make things even smoother and potentially bypass some issues with motion sickness that wearing VR headsets for any length of time can cause for some people. 

The Oculus Quest 2 already supports a form of 120Hz refresh rate, but it requires VR apps and games to run at 120 frames per second. Given the Quest 2 is an all-in-one VR headset reliant on a Qualcomm Snapdragon system-on-a-chip rather than a powerful external gaming PC, such frame rates can be a stretch for the Quest 2.

Nevertheless, it would seem that 120Hz apps could be making their way over to the Quest 2. These might sacrifice graphical fidelity in order to hit the high frame rates needed to play nice with 120Hz. But for some, the smoother experience might be worth the trade-off. 

A combination of a software update and Facebook getting developers on board to produce 120Hz-compatible apps will likely be the key to opening up this higher refresh rate for the Quest 2. 

However, we have no indication of when such a feature would be enabled. It could even be the case that 120Hz will be held back for an Oculus Quest 3. But with the Quest 2 already able to support the refresh rate, we see no reason why Facebook wouldn’t enable it, especially as the Quest 3 is probably a couple of years away yet. 

If you have a Quest 2 then check out our selection of the best Oculus Quest 2 games you can play right now. 

Roland Moore-Colyer
Roland Moore-Colyer

Roland Moore-Colyer a Managing Editor at Tom’s Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he’s also got an interest in cars. When not at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.