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In this article, you will read all about the upcoming Meta Quest 3or Oculus Quest 3 VR headsets launch, its announcement and release date, its cost and pricing and finally its specifications, functionalities and features.
The Meta Quest 3 is the upcoming VR headset from Meta (former Facebook) and is the successor to the best-selling VR headset in history: Oculus / Meta Quest 2.
The Meta Quest 3 will be announced in late 2023 and ship in early 2024. This was confirmed by Dave Wehner, Meta’s Chief Financial Officer, saying “the next generation of the consumer Quest headset” will arrive in 2023. With this more than likely meaning a follow up for the Quest 2 not the enterprise oriented Quest Pro.
Mark Zuckerberg said, in a joint interview with Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, to Stratechery, that the Meta Quest 3 VR headset will cost “$300, $400, or $500, that zone.” This will put it in competition with the Pico 4 VR headset
Because Quest 3 will be using OLED dual displays and a pancake lens stack for its headset, also seen on Quest Pro. the Quest 3 VR headset will be slim and lightweight. Similarly, the computer-aided design Brad Lynch released shows the headset to have a rounded design.
Following the recent multi-year partnership between Meta and Qualcomm, Meta Quest 3 will feature the new Snapdragon XR3 processor, replacing the popular XR2 chipset in most VR headsets today. In the same vein, tech leaker, SadlyItsBradley, claims Meta Quest 3 has twice the GPU performance of the Quest 2. Specifically, Quest 3 will be outfitted with the Adreno 730 GPU delivering 2.4 Teraflops of graphical power.
Since the release of the Quest 2 in 2020, display technology has come a long way. For the Quest 3, it is certain that the device will adopt the use of pancake lesnes. This will make the Quest 3 slim, lightweight, and more comfortable.
Rumors indicate Meta is in talks to partner with display maker Changxin Technology to produce dual OLED displays for the Quest 3. OLED for virtual reality is known to be the best and most cost-intensive display type for VR. OLED can create faster refresh rates, a lighter form factor, and better color accuracy and contrast.
According to Brad Lynch, the Meta Quest 3 will be a mixed reality headset, mirroring the Quest Pro’s high-end features, bringing some of them down to the Quest 3.
Although third-generation Oculus Touch controllers provide wider space and enhanced haptic feedback, we may see Meta take the experience to a new level by launching dedicated haptic gloves with Quest 3 to elevate the gameplay to a new level.
A few months back, Mark Zuckerberg posted a video of his team at Facebook Reality Labs working on a haptic glove prototype consisting of actuators to give users a sense of touch in the virtual environment.
Because Sony is planning to launch its PSVR2 with an inbuilt haptic feedback feature, Meta doesn’t want to stay behind in providing users with a deeper presence in VR through its VR gloves.
Zuckerberg has said on the Lex Friedman podcast that “when we’re designing the next version of Quest, or the VR headset, a big focus for us is face tracking and eye tracking”.
As indicated by the recent Meta Quest Pro being a devkit headset, the Meta Store will see a significant presence of productivity applications and enterprise ecosystem by the time Meta Quest 3 launches. The reasoning is based on the competition. To entice users the Meta Store must diversify as the competing VR platform, SteamVR, boasts the largest consumer VR content library.
Below are what we know or can expect for the specification on the Meta Quest 3.
| Meta Quest 3 | |
| Resolution | *1.920 x 1.800 pixels per eye |
| Display engine | Dual OLED |
| Refresh Rate | 120Hz |
| Lenses | *Pancake |
| Field-of-view | *105º+ Horizontal |
| IPD Adjustment Range | *Automatic IPD |
| Processor | *Qualcomm Snapdragon XR3 |
| GPU | Adreno 730 with 2.4 Teraflops |
| RAM | 8-12GB |
| Storage | *512GB |
| Connectors | USB-C and WiFi 6E |
| Weight | TBA |
| Battery Life | *3+ hours |
| Tracking | Standalone, inside-out with face, hand, body and eye tracking from optical internal and external cameras and a LiDAR depth sensor
*Controllers Optical inside-out tracking |
| Interactivity | *Controller, hand gesture and voice control |
| Audio | *3D audio from integrated headset speakers, dual 3.5mm mini-Jack outputs and a built-in microphone array |
| Video Passthrough | *Full-color passthrough with depth sensor for spatial mapping |
| MSRP | $300-$500 |
| Shipping date | Late-2023 to early-2024 |
*Estimated
Despite Meta splitting up its augmented and virtual reality departments, the Meta Quest 3 will be a mixed reality headset. We expect VR headsets to pivot into mixed reality.
Similarly, Meta Quest 3 will likely become available in Germany again. Currently, Meta does not sell its VR headsets in Germany. However, we expect this to change as Meta is building its Metaverse in Europe is a strong indicator of this.
All in all, Meta Quest 3 could further boost Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of building the Metaverse and elevate people’s interaction with their friends and family members.
According to an article by TechCrunch, consumers around the world downloaded the Oculus App 2 million times between 23rd-29th December 2021.
This growing interest among consumers is social proof for Meta to keep building better hardware and experiences for the audience.
All we can do now is wait and watch to see how Oculus Quest 3 pans out next year.
Jakob Pii is the Head Writer for VR Expert and currently lives in the UK. He started his career in VR gaming in 2015 and has stayed in XR since, from exposure therapy in VR to 360-degree video documentaries. He is fascinated by how emerging technologies change how we live, play and work.
