The Meta Quest 3 is priced at a stiff $500 for the 128GB model and $650 for the 512GB variant, making mobile and high-end PC VR a reality. But is it worth your hard-earned cash? Let's take a closer look.

Meta Quest 3 Is All About Mixed Reality

The Quest 3 shows what direction Meta is heading in, and is no longer a purely VR headset. Its advanced mixed reality, powered by a new sensor architecture with two RGB cameras and a depth sensor, offers a high-quality pass through, rendering your physical environment in the virtual world with ten times the resolution of Quest 2 and thrice that of Quest Pro.

The end result of this is a headset that can seamlessly move between full immersive VR and integrated mixed reality. We've already seen some of this with the Quest 2 with features such as bringing your keyboard or couch into VR, or apps that let you learn the piano using a real piano, but Quest 3 is purpose-built for this. The Quest 2's camera system was never meant to offer a front-and-center mixed reality experience, so this is perhaps the biggest difference between the two headset.

Key Features of the Quest 3

The Quest 3 is a significant redesign and upgrade from the Quest 2, and there are far too many small details to point out, but the most important specifications and changes everyone should know about can be summed up like this:

• Display: Boasts two LCD panels with a resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye, nearly 30% more pixels than Quest 2. The new pancake lenses should also aid in clarity with fewer lens anomalies.
• Performance: Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, it more than doubles the graphics performance of Quest 2.
• Audio: Integrated stereo speakers provide a richer audio experience, with up to 40% louder volume than Quest 2.
• Ergonomics: The Quest 3's casing, 40% thinner thanks to pancake lenses, along with a more robust headband option, promises a comfortable experience.
• Storage: The Quest 3 launches with a 128GB and 512GB variant, compared to the 128GB and 256GB Quest 2 models.
• RAM: The Quest 3 has 8GB of RAM compared to the Quest 2's 6GB.

The XR2 Gen 2 is worth talking about here in particular. Not only is the faster CPU going to be crucial to advanced mixed reality, but the huge leap in raw graphical power is likely to make the biggest difference going from a Quest 2 to a Quest 3—at least in applications that take advantage of that extra horsepower. The Quest 2 was already impressive, boasting a GPU with a similar teraflop count to the Xbox One.

However, that graphical power has to be divided between two eyes, each with its own separate view. The end-result is a graphical presentation that's decidedly two or more generations behind current consoles. By doubling that power we might now expect VR experiences more in line with what the PS4 had to offer with the original PSVR, but with sharper imagery and more modern graphical tricks.

Pricing

The Quest 3 is significantly more expensive than the Quest 2, and at the time of writing it seems that Meta will keep selling the Quest 2 alongside the newer model for some time. The 128GB model is a whopping $200 more than the 128GB Quest 2. At $649, the 512GB Quest 3 is $220 more expensive compared to the 256GB Quest 2. That sounds like a big jump, but considering the levels of inflation we've seen since the Quest 2's launch and how much extra hardware and performance is packed into the new headset, we think it's actually reasonable. And I doubt Meta is making much of any profit on the headsets themselves. As with consoles, the money is in software sales, and overall the Quest 3's price seems justified by the tech packed under its plastic skin.

Eye Tracking Is the Elephant in the Room

While the Quest 3 is clearly a big step up from the Quest 2 and compares favorably to the much more expensive Quest Pro, it lacks eye tracking, which cutting-edge headsets like the Quest Pro, Apple Vision Pro, and Sony PSVR 2 feature. Eye tracking for VR has numerous uses, but one of the most important is that it enabled eye-tracked foveated rendering. Here one the part of the scene your fovea is concentrated on is rendered in high detail. This acts as a major performance multiplier for the GPU and is completely invisible to you as the user. For a mobile headset with a modest GPU, you'd think this would be an easy win, but Meta has decided not to go that way.

This also has implications for those who want to use the Quest 3 as a PC VR headset, since we expect some future PC VR titles will support foveated rendering for headsets that feature eye tracking. Eye and facial tracking are also important features for metaverse-type social apps, which makes it even more curious that some cheaper versions of these features found in the Quest Pro are missing here.

In the greater scheme of things, a lack of eye tracking isn't a major issue considering the Quest 3 as a whole, but it's definitely worth keeping in mind when deciding if it's the right headset to buy.

Who Is the Quest 3 For?

I see three main potential customers for the Quest 3:

• A current Quest 2 (or Quest 1) user who mainly or exclusively uses their Quest for standalone VR gaming and experiences.
• Someone who wants to enter the world of mixed reality foe entertainment or business reasons.
• Those looking for an affordable entry-point to PC VR.

If you're the first type of user, I have no doubt that the Quest 3 is worth the upgrade, but it's probably worth waiting until Quest 3 exclusive titles are released, or that major Quest titles get a visual upgrade for Quest 3. There's certainly no rush on this. If you're looking to get into mixed reality, we can't think of any headset this advanced at this price point. The Quest 3 is doing things with mixed reality that would have cost you thousands and thousands of dollars just half a decade ago.

If you're looking for a new entry-level PC VR headset, and don't care that much about the standalone aspect of the Quest, you're better off sticking with your Quest 1 or Quest 2. The Quest 1 isn't really viable as a standalone headset anymore, but its low-persistence OLED display might make it a true used or "on sale" bargain if you just want a PC VR headset that can also let you watch VR video content in standalone mode. Until PC VR titles can take advantage of the unique new hardware in the Quest 3, it's not a compelling purchase for PCVR in particular.

Meta Quest 3

7 / 10

The Meta Quest 3 improves on the Meta Quest 2 in every way, while adding brand-new mixed reality capabilities thanks to advanced full color external cameras.

$499 at Amazon