Meta officially announces the Quest 3S
Most of us have seen the leaks so this isn't that surprising, but today at Meta Connect 2024, the Meta Quest 3S was finally officially unveiled. This more budget entry into the Quest 3 ecosystem looks to draw more people into VR with its impressive pricing.
The Meta Quest 3S starts at $299.99 for a 128GB model and $399.99 for a 256GB model. You get the HMD, controllers, charging cable, charging plug, and for a limited time, a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow which looks really good. So what did Meta do to get this VR headset in this price range?
For starters, there's now only one LCD panel instead of two like in the Quest 3. Resolution is not as sharp as the Quest 3, but on par with the Quest 2 at 1832 x 1920 per eye. Also because of the single LCD display design, the IPD adjustment is also like the Quest 2 with three different settings rather than a dial adjustment that the Quest 3 has.
Fresnel lenses are here instead of the incredible pancake lenses that are in the Quest 3. That means you might get things such as god rays and some glare like you did in the Quest 2 and a smaller sweet spot. Also, the thicker fresnel lenses means the HMD is physically thicker than the Quest 3, making it similar in depth to the Quest 2. I did see that Zenni is now offering prescription lenses for the Quest 3S and it's compatible with the Quest 2, which makes me conclude that the size and shape of the fresnel lenses are the same for both these devices.
While there are the good pass through cameras on the Quest 3S, it does lack the depth sensor that made things such as room scanning for a play area much easier. I've come accustomed to using the depth sensor for quick setups, but that's probably not that much of a deal breaker for this one in being omitted from the final design.
Inside, there's the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 SOC so you'll get the same performance out of the Quest 3S as you would the Quest 3 and maybe a little bit more since it doesn't have to drive as high of a resolution as the Quest 3. Meta also stated you can get a little bit more battery life out of this one as well, even though it has the same capacity as the Quest 3.
There is a new addition of an action button on the bottom of the Quest 3S. You can use this to select menu items or switch between pass through and VR mode and I'm sure more functionality will be added to this in the future. Missing is a headphone jack so you're now limited to a Bluetooth headset or using the USB-C port to drive some headphones.
The controls that come with the Quest 3S are the same as the Quest 3 so no outer tracking ring on them. I do like the smaller controllers and have not had any problems using them on the Quest 3.
For those looking to pick up the Quest 3, the 512GB version's price has been reduced to $499.99, a nice price reduction. Meta will stop producing the 128GB version of the Quest 3 and reduced the price of that one to $429.99. Once those are sold out, there will be no more of that SKU.
$299.99 seems like a great price for a Quest 3S and while it might have all the bells and whistles of the Quest 3, it does offer a compelling package in performance and price. For those who don't want to spend too much, but still get a quality VR experience. the Quest 3S was made just for you. You can pre-order now for an October 15th delivery.
