Meta Quest 3 hasn't been officially announced yet but from leaks and hints, we're expecting an October 2023 release with a low price point and a focus on mixed reality.
Since the launch of the highly successful Meta Quest 2 in 2020, the VR headset has sold over 15 million units at the last count in June, 2022. But three years later, fans are already speculating about the next headset in the lineup – the Meta Quest 3. We're hoping to see it very soon based on the current slew of rumours, as well as potential new games for the platform at the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023 set for June 1.
The Meta Quest 3 is rumoured to be more powerful than its predecessor, thinner, lighter, and offer a mixed reality experience combining AR and VR. Of course, the biggest selling point of the Meta Quest series is that they're all-in-one VR headsets. The downside is that it can't rely on the power of a PC or console to power them, so the Meta Quest 3 won't be able to run games at the same power as the PSVR2 or HTC Vive Pro.
On the plus side, you don't need to shell out the extra money for a PS5, or gaming rig plus room trackers to have your Meta Quest headset work. Ultimately, the Meta Quest 3 is targeting a different audience than these two VR headsets, but if you're after an all-in-one, wireless VR experience to sit alongside your current gaming setup, the Meta Quest 3 is it.
Meta Quest 3: release date
A 2023 launch window has been slated for a Meta VR headset launch, and it's undoubtedly the Meta Quest 3. This apparent confirmation of a Meta Quest 3 release this year comes from the company's third-quarter 2022 earnings report which dropped last October.
Amongst the financial jargon is a snippet in which Meta says that it expects an increase in costs "driven by the launch of our next generation of our consumer Quest headset later next year." It may be a grammatical nightmare, but it sounds like the company is lining up a 2023 Meta Quest 3 release.
We can also look to past hardware release date patterns for the line of VR headsets to give us an idea as to when we can expect to see the Meta Quest 3 release. The Meta Quest 2 was unveiled on September 16, 2020, and was available to purchase a month later, on October 13, 2020. The Meta Quest Pro was announced at the company's annual keynote, Meta Connect, on October 11, 2022, and was released for purchase just two weeks later on October 25, 2022. So there's a pretty speedy turnaround in terms of Meta revealing its VR headsets and their retail launch.
It's fair to assume that the Meta Quest 3 release will follow this pattern. It's incredibly unlikely that we'll see it make an appearance at the software-focused Meta Quest Gaming Showcase. Instead, the Meta Quest 3 will probably be unveiled at the hardware-focused keynote, Meta Connect, in September/ October time and released two to four weeks later. So an October 2023 Meta Quest 3 release date seems likely.
Meta Quest 3: price
Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has given us an idea of the Meta Quest 3 price, telling Stratechery's Ben Thompson that it'll come in somewhere in the ballpark of $300 to $500. Although an internal Meta presentation shared with The Verge in back March saw the company tell employees that the Meta Quest 3 price will be more than $400. That's around £320 / AU$400, but this of course doesn't take regional pricing into account.
A $400 dollar price tag would see the Meta Quest 3 price fall in line with the Meta Quest 2 headset which starts at $399.99 / £399.99 / AU$629 for the 128GB edition and $499.99 / £499.99 / AU$789 for the 256GB edition. This was after a price increase of $100 on both units that Meta announced last year, citing a rise in production costs. Meta did walk this back somewhat, offering discounted pricing on the 256GB Meta Quest 2 model.
The technology in the Meta Quest 3 is set to be significantly better than the Meta Quest 2 (more on that later), but with the ongoing cost of living crisis, Meta really needs to justify that price point. Mark Rabkin, vice president for VR, told employees during the leaked presentation that "we have to prove to people that all this power, all these new features are worth it."
Meta's Reality Labs division (responsible for its VR hardware and software) lost $13.7 billion in 2022 as reported in the company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results. Add in its plummeting stock price, and two rounds of layoffs in November 2022 and March 2023 totalling 21,000 staff, and confidence in the company – both internally and externally – is at an all-time low.
Zuck desperately needs the Meta Quest 3 price to hit a sweet spot that consumers will find hard to resist, otherwise, the company could be looking at another financial hit
Meta Quest 3: design and features
In terms of the Meta Quest 3 design, the headset is reportedly going to be "two times thinner" according to the internal Meta presentation shared with The Verge. We even know what it may look like thanks to YouTuber, hardware analyst, and reputable leaker Brad Lynch who shared what he claims to be the Meta Quest 3 CAD files and specs.
Based on the image, the headset is keeping the same fabric strap as the Meta Quest 2. Paired with the lighter weight, there may be some improvement in comfort levels, despite retaining the soft band. The Meta Quest line of VR headsets house the battery in the front of the headset, so the fabric strap doesn't provide a whole lot of support.
There's also going to be an IPD adjustment wheel on the bottom of the headset which will allow you to adjust the distance between your lenses while you're actually wearing the headset so you can get the perfect distance instead of having to continuously remove and adjust and remove and adjust which is a vicious cycle.
The headset will also be compatible with the Meta Quest Pro charging dock, although this doesn't charge controllers it does let you charge the device in a much easier way than having to plug in a cable each time.
Meta Quest 3: specs
We already know that the Meta Quest 3 will feature improved mixed reality tech thanks to Meta's fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. That means not only will it support virtual reality but mixed reality as well which was the main feature of the Meta Quest Pro.
Some of the Meta Quest 3 features were also revealed thanks to Brad Lynch. We can see from the CAD files that it boasts six external cameras including two canyon cameras on the side and the four-camera array and depth sensor on the front of the headset.
These cameras are a mixture of colour and black and white meaning you'll likely be able to see your play area in colour for those mixed reality experiences. The Meta Quest 2 currently only features black and white cameras since it's a VR-focused headset and the appearance of your space only matters when setting up your play area. The black and white cameras will also have a higher refresh rate allowing for smoother video and quicker recognition of movements and your surroundings when using both VR or MR.
As for actual Meta Quest 3 specs, the headset will feature Intel Real Sense technology which allows for better depth perception. It reportedly sports a 120Hz LCD with Lynch citing a resolution of 4,128 by 2,208 pixels (2,064 by 2,208 pixels per eye) which is a boost
The lenses in the headset will be pancake lenses, named that way because they're much thinner than regular lenses. That explains the significant weight loss over the last iteration of Meta's VR headset.
The big shock here is that the headset seemingly has no eye or face-tracking technology. Eye-tracking is becoming more mainstream even in consumer headsets with it being featured in both the PSVR2 and HTC Vive Pro.
The likely reason behind this is because of Meta's approach to eye-tracking, where in order to get the most high-fidelity outcome it uses so many cameras that an extra chip is required in the headset, increasing the production cost. So the feature has been abandoned to hit a competitive price point.
