Meta announced the Quest 3 mixed-reality headset on 1 June, boasting of incredible features, just days ahead of Apple possibly revealing its own mixed-reality device at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The revelation was made by Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post on Instagram. Zuckerberg called it a “real breakthrough in bringing mixed reality to everyone.”
Mixed reality combines augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) elements.
What to know about Meta Quest 3
Features and capabilities of Meta Quest 3
Zuckerberg said that the Meta Quest 3 will be 40 per cent thinner than its predecessor when not including the foam facial interface. It will be powered by a new Qualcomm chipset with twice the graphics performance of the Quest 2.
In the video that Zuckerberg posted on Instagram, the device can be seen with three new sensor areas at the front. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg had reported earlier that there are four cameras in total placed evenly on either side of the device and a single depth sensor in the middle. Two of the cameras are full-color and the other two are standard.
In a statement Meta said that users can interact with virtual content and the physical world simultaneously with “high-fidelity color Passthrough, innovative machine learning, and spatial understanding.”
The device comes with redesigned Quest 3 Touch Plus controllers and can also work with the fully self-tracked Meta Quest Touch Pro controllers.
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The company added that the Quest 3 is compatible with over 500 playable games, apps, and experiences available in the Quest 2’s VR catalog.
Pricing and other details
Meta said that the Quest 3 is the company’s “first mass-market offering to deliver both cutting-edge VR and MR experiences in a single device.”
Meta Quest 3 will come with a 128GB version priced at USD 499.99 with an “an additional storage option” for an extra price that has not yet been specified yet.
No date of launch was announced but Zuckerberg said it will drop in autumn and that more details will be shared at Meta’s annual AR/VR conference on 27 September.
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Quest 2 prices slashed
Meta said that prices of Quest 2 will drop by USD 100 to retail at USD 299.99 for the 128GB version. The 256GB Quest 2 will also see a drop of USD 80 from its current price of USD 429.99. The price drops will come into effect on 4 June. Interestingly, the price of the base model had been hiked in 2022.
Quest 2 will also get a software update. Meta will also improve the performance of its Quest Pro.
Meta’s Quest devices command almost the entire market of virtual reality devices. Citing an estimate by market research firm IDC, Reuters reports that Quest 2 and Quest Pro together comprised around 80 per cent of the 8.8 million virtual reality headsets sold in 2022. It was followed by TikTok owner ByteDance’s Pico device at 10 per cent of the market share.
Apple’s AR/VR debut has been one of the most anticipated events in technology for quite some time and many believe that it could potentially alter the current market share. The debut is expected to take place at the keynote event of the WWDC on 5 June.
(Hero image: Screenshot/Meta Quest/YouTube; Featured image: Mark Zuckerberg/@zuck/Instagram)
