Meta Announces $499 Quest 3 VR Headset

Meta announced today the Quest 3, the successor to its Quest 2 VR headset that will be launching later this fall at $499. The latter is also getting a price cut, which seems quite timely ahead of the much-anticipated reveal of Apple’s first VR headset at WWDC next week.

Compared to its predecessor, the Meta Quest 3 will offer a 40% slimmer profile, a 2x graphical performance boost thanks to a new Qualcomm chip, and more ergonomic Touch Plus controllers with haptic feedback. The base model will offer 128GB of storage, and Meta said that there will be more storage options without providing further details.

The Meta Quest 3 will be compatible with the Quest 2’s catalog of over 500 VR games, apps, and experiences. Meta also said that it will have new VR and MR content available when the new headset launches later this fall.

“Quest 3 makes Meta Reality available to even more people and at a lower price point, making it our first mass-market offering to deliver both cutting-edge VR and MR experiences in a single device, setting a new benchmark for future headsets,” the company said today.

If Meta claims that the Quest 3 is its most powerful headset yet, the company will continue to sell the Meta Quest Pro that’s currently priced at $999. The Meta Quest 2, however, will see its price drop to $299.99 for the 128GB model and $349.99 for the 256GB model on June 4.

Both the Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro are also getting a performance upgrade soon. “Quest 2 and Pro will see an up-to 26% CPU performance increase with an up-to 19% GPU speed increase for Quest 2 and 11% for Quest Pro,” the company said today. Meta has yet to announce when these upcoming software updates will be available for customers.