Meta Quest 3: Release Window, Price, features - everything you need to know & More

Do you know when Meta Quest 3 will be released? According to Meta, the device is set to hit the market in the fall of 2023. The complete specifications of the headset will be unveiled at the upcoming Meta Connect, Meta's developer conference, which will be held on September 27-28, 2023. Typically, Meta releases new VR hardware shortly after Meta Connect.

How much will Meta Quest 3 cost? For the standard 128-gigabyte model, the price is $499. Meta will announce the price of a model with more storage later this year.

Due to better and newer technology, the cost of Meta Quest 3 will be more expensive than that of Meta Quest 2, which currently starts at $299. Quest 2 will not be replaced by Quest 3 for now and will continue to be sold after Quest 3 is released.

Presumably, Meta plans to segment its headset portfolio into three price points: Quest 2 starting from $299, Quest 3 starting from $499, and Quest Pro for $999. The Quest 2 may not be discontinued until 2024.

Meta intends to launch a more affordable headset codenamed Ventura next year, according to a leaked hardware roadmap. If it is launched, it will likely be a stripped-down version of Meta Quest 3.

What improvements will Meta Quest 3 bring? From the video teaser and Meta's official information, the following improvements can be deduced: Meta Quest 3 will feature the highest resolution display of any Meta headset, as well as custom pancake lenses for a 40 percent sharper image. Meta has yet to announce the exact resolution of the display. A next-generation Snapdragon chip co-developed with Qualcomm promises to more than double the GPU performance of the Quest 2's Snapdragon XR2, and a new cooling solution should unlock even more performance. The Meta Quest 3's housing has a 40 percent thinner profile than the Quest 2, resulting in a sleeker look and improved comfort.

Meta Quest 3 features a new sensor architecture housed in three pill-shaped bumps. The left and right pills each house a 4-megapixel RGB sensor and a tracking camera. The new RGB sensors enable color pass-through and ten times the pass-through resolution of Quest 2. The center pill houses a depth sensor for enhanced mixed reality and automated room scanning, making the device more convenient to use in VR.

Meta Quest 3 comes with redesigned VR controllers, the Touch Plus controllers, which are more ergonomic and come without tracking rings. The new controllers support the enhanced TruTouch haptics. This was first used in the Touch Pro controllers, which are also sold separately and will be compatible with Meta Quest 3.

Contacts for a charging station can be seen in the teaser. Quest 2 could only be charged via cable. The battery life will be about the same as Quest 2, so about two hours, according to Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth. The same goes for Quest 3's field of view, which has not improved significantly. You can still wear glasses with Meta Quest 3.

Quest 3 offers better passthrough quality than Quest Pro, but unlike the latter, it does not support eye and face tracking. Meta Quest 3 has an emphasis on mixed reality. This is because Meta wants to pave the way for AR glasses and expects the mixed reality focus to create a more accessible headset that is more compatible with everyday use, as well as another application mainstay beyond pure gaming and fitness. In addition, Meta's biggest competitor, Apple, is following a similar path with the Vision Pro, emphasizing augmented reality instead of pure virtual reality.

What software will Meta Quest 3 support? Meta Quest 3 is fully backward compatible with Quest 2, which means that all software from the older VR headset will work with Meta Quest 3. That includes more than 500 VR apps and games as of today. The Verge reported that Meta has 41 new apps and games up its sleeve for the new VR headset, including mixed reality experiences that take advantage of the new hardware's strengths.

Sooner or later, VR games exclusive to Quest 3 could follow, as was the case with Meta Quest 2. Upcoming in-house productions such as Asgard's Wrath 2 will also run on Meta Quest 2 but will be optimized for the more powerful hardware of Meta Quest 3.