Blink, and you’ll miss it; earlier today, it appeared that Meta had accidentally confirmed that a “lite” version of the Meta Quest 3 is coming in the Meta Quest 3S.
In Quest Store listings spotted by The Verge, you can see the Quest 3S listed as a supported device alongside the Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2.
The forthcoming VR headset name was spotted in the Alo Moves XR app. Other titles also listed the 3S. However, it appears that Meta has cleaned up those listings, as the 3S moniker has disappeared from the Quest Store.
Previous rumors have suggested that the Quest 3S or Meta Quest 3 Lite, as some called it, would be a more affordable version of the Meta Quest 3 headset.
Other than the potential existence of the 3S, the best news we’ve seen claims that the Quest 3S appears to have the brains of the Quest 3 and the body of a Quest 2.
The 3S is expected to have the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and Touch Plus controllers with two 4MP RGB passthrough cameras.
However, the display is a bit weaker. It has a 1,832 x 1920 resolution, the same as the Quest 2. It’s supposed to feature 20 pixels per degree, compared to 25 PPD in the Quest 3, but it allegedly has a 120Hz refresh rate.
We have yet to see a price or potential launch date for the Quest 3S leaked or hinted at. Currently, the Quest 3 has a starting price of $499, while the Quest 2 launched at $299. If we were betting, we imagine the 3S will be priced somewhere between those at around $350.
Next week, Meta will showcase new games for the Quest headsets at Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest 2024. The June 7 showcase will also reveal the new Arkham Asylum VR game, Batman: Arkham Shadow. Perhaps Meta will announce a lighter Quest 3S at the same time.
