Meta Quest 3 fully unveiled at Connect 2023: How is it different from Quest 2?

Last year, Meta released the Quest Pro headset and seemingly nobody cared because it cost $1,500. This year, Meta is back with a powerful VR headset that is also (relatively) affordable.

Meet the Meta Quest 3. Originally teased in June with a much slimmer profile than the Quest 2, Meta showed it off in all its glory on Wednesday at Meta Connect. You can pre-order starting on Sept. 27 and it ships on Oct. 10.

It's a lot less bulky than Quest 2. Credit: Meta

Like the Quest 2, the new Quest 3 is an untethered, standalone VR headset with wireless Touch controllers. However, unlike the Quest 2, it's got full-color passthrough and much more impressive specs:

• Two 90Hz LCD displays at 2064 x 2208 resolution

• 8GB RAM

• A Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor

• RGB cameras with a depth sensor for passthrough

• 128GB or 512GB of storage

• Same battery life as Quest 2 (2-3 hours of normal usage)

While the Quest 2 was straightforwardly a VR headset, the Quest 3 is much more in line with the recent trend of mixed-reality applications that blend VR and AR. Its full-color passthrough isn't just for seeing the world around you when you need it; games and experiences can utilize it to put virtual elements in your physical space. The new Touch Plus controllers are also designed for extra immersion with new haptic feedback functionality.

Of course, it's also capable of regular VR and the new Snapdragon XR2 chipset will theoretically allow for higher fidelity visuals than Quest 2. Quest 3 is fully backwards-compatible with Quest 2 apps, and Meta promised that more than 100 (some new, some old) upgraded experiences are coming to Quest 3 by the end of 2023.

Meta already has a vast library of apps, so the Quest 3 has a chance to make a big dent in the consumer VR space. Its closest competition in 2023 would be the PlayStation VR2, which requires a $400 game console to function on top of the $550 price tag on the headset itself. Meta Quest 3 may not be cheap, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than that.

The Meta Quest 3 starts at $499 and comes with 128GB of storage. If you want more space, you'll have to shell out $649.99 for the 512GB model.