The Quest 3 is launching this Fall beginning at $499, and whereas it is $200 greater than the Quest 2, it provides a smaller construct, double the processing energy, higher controllers, sharper lenses, a higher-resolution show, and computerized room mapping. There will not be any Quest 3-exclusive video games for some time however we’re anticipating loads of unique mixed-reality experiences.
For40% smaller than Quest 2Double the processing powerBetter lenses and displaySleeker controllers with improved hapticsAutomatic room mappingProper IPD adjustment wheelAgainstHigher priceStill makes use of a material head strapReportedly the identical weight because the Quest 2
The Quest 2 will proceed to stay on for an additional few years at a diminished value of $299 — satirically, the worth it initially launched at — strengthening the Quest ecosystem as essentially the most inexpensive method to get into VR.
ForNonetheless essentially the most inexpensive VR headsetAn wonderful library of gamesGreat room-scale monitoring techLots of third get together accessoriesPlenty of assist leftAgainstControllers have deadzonesCloth strap makes it very front-heavyBulkierPassthrough is low-res and black & white onlyLower-fidelity graphics
It’s been almost three years since we first bought our arms on the Oculus Quest 2, a headset that may later develop into the best-selling VR headset of all time. Now, the Quest 3 is on the best way later this fall and, whereas it is $200 dearer than the Quest 2, it guarantees to be a major improve in each approach.But that is not simply because the Quest 3 is smaller and doubtlessly extra snug. It’s not simply because it is bought higher controllers and smarter monitoring. And it is not simply because it is twice as highly effective and can blow the lid off what all of us count on from standalone VR. It’s the end result of all the things put collectively and the expertise Meta has discovered through the years how one can make a headset that is simply plain higher.Quest 2 vs Quest 3: Design and luxury(Image credit score: Meta)There’s little doubt that each the Quest 2 and Quest 3 share some design DNA. They are each blindingly white, ship with material head straps and have facet rails with built-in audio system. Both headsets additionally pack the entire computing {hardware} and the battery right into a face-mounted show.But, whereas they could appear very comparable on the floor, a better look reveals various big adjustments. First up is the dimensions. Meta was capable of deliver over the pancake lenses from the Quest Pro — referred to as “pancake” as a result of they’re flat in comparison with older, thicker VR lenses — which implies it does not want as a lot house to suit large, cumbersome outdated lenses in a headset body, because it did with the Quest 2.Without moving into the weeds, that makes the Quest 3 40% smaller than the Quest 2. We compiled a side-by-side beneath that showcases the distinction in dimension based mostly on the Quest 3 video reveal from Mark Zuckerberg and our personal picture of the Quest 2. The distinction appears to be like fairly substantial, to say the least.Quest 3 vs Quest 2 dimension comparability (Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)Those new lenses will allow a barely wider area of view than the Quest 2 — roughly the identical because the Quest Pro — which implies you possibly can see extra of the digital world whereas carrying the headset. More importantly, although, these new lenses are crystal clear and now not have that annoying “sweet spot” that requires customers to must always alter the headset to get the clearest view.Plus, Meta goes again to analog IPD adjustment. That means, it doesn’t matter what the gap is between your eyes, you’ll fine-tune the spacing with the useful IPD wheel proper on the underside. For people who’ve been Questing for some time, that is much like how the unique Quest allowed lens adjustment.The new lenses are crystal clear and do not have the tiny “sweet spot” the Quest 2’s lenses have.While Meta tells us the Quest 3’s weight is much like the Quest 2, the corporate appears to be barely enhancing weight distribution through the use of parallel head straps on both facet of your head as a substitute of a single strap throughout the center. This ought to assist higher distribute the load and hopefully maintain it from sliding when a person has lengthy hair.Meta is retaining the USB-C port and 3.5mm audio port on the Quest 3 but it surely moved them to raised match the brand new slimmer headset. The Quest 3’s USB-C port is now on the left headstrap arm, which implies some Quest 2 equipment won’t work on the Quest 3.(Image credit score: Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram)The entrance of the Quest 3 appears to be like fairly totally different from the Quest 2, now prominently displaying the cameras in a approach that is extra apparent to everybody round you. It’s not almost as handsome or fancy because the Apple Vision Pro’s entrance panel but it surely does make it extra apparent that cameras are trying on the room.Quest 3 has extra cameras, an IR projector, a depth sensor, and the power to routinely map your room.Around the Quest 3, you may discover a whopping six cameras as a substitute of the 4 cameras on the Quest 2. Four are situated within the left and rightmost “pills” on the entrance, whereas two extra ones are situated on the underside. That’s necessary for correct monitoring of controllers and arms and offering a transparent view of the room round you whereas carrying the headset.Those cameras are 10x the decision of the Quest 2’s cameras so they need to look quite a bit higher. Plus, they supply full-color footage as a substitute of the crummy black & white footage from the Quest 2.The center “pill” comprises a brand new IR projector and depth sensor that are essential for higher blended actuality content material. We’ll cowl that in additional element within the part beneath however know that this permits Meta to routinely map rooms or areas and extra precisely observe arms and controllers.Quest 2 vs Quest 3: Graphics, efficiency, and battery life(Image credit score: Ubisoft)Both the Quest 2 and Quest 3 are powered by Qualcomm’s devoted line of Snapdragon XR2 chips, however the Quest 3 is slated to make use of a a lot newer chipset than the Quest 2. While we do not know the official title of it but, it is probably that it will be referred to as the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2.This chipset is claimed to be based mostly on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which is considerably sooner than the XR2 within the Quest 2 by each measure. In truth, benchmarks usually do not seize how a lot sooner this chipset is than even final yr’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 for a number of causes, however one is extra necessary than the remaining: thermals.The chipset that powers the Quest 3 is as much as 2.8x sooner than the Quest 2.The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 does a implausible job of protecting cool even whereas working at full load. Just about each main flagship telephone that has shipped in 2023 makes use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, together with the dear Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This may assist put issues into perspective if you happen to’ve used any of the perfect Android telephones that use it.While Boz confirmed that battery life for the Quest 3 might be about the identical because the Quest 2 — which means between 2-4 hours per cost, relying on what you are doing — the chipset’s capability to remain cool will additional assist Meta get higher efficiency out of it than with the chip within the Quest 2.Swipe to scroll horizontallyComparing Quest 2 vs Quest 3 GPUsHeadset chipsetQuest 2 – Adreno 650Quest 3 – Adreno 740Process node7nm4nmGPU base clock250 MHz680 MHzGPU enhance clock587 MHz719 MHzMemory typeLPDDR4x-2133LPDDR5X-4200Reminiscence bus64 bit128 bitMemory bandwidth44 GB/s64 GB/sExecution items (ALU clusters)25Shading items5121,024FP32 floating level performance1.3 TFLOPS3.7 TFLOPSAs you possibly can see from the uncooked numbers above, the Adreno 740 GPU that is more likely to be within the Quest 3 has considerably beefier specs than the Adreno 650 within the Quest 2. If that is the best GPU, the uncooked efficiency numbers present that the Quest 3’s GPU could possibly be as much as 2.8x the velocity of the Quest 2’s, giving builders considerably extra energy to work with when making VR video games.GPU efficiency is necessary but it surely’s additionally not the one a part of the equation. Things like RAM velocity and quantity of RAM are necessary, and sluggish storage velocity could make even the quickest processors really feel outdated. Once we all know these numbers, we’ll have a greater thought of the particular efficiency of the Quest 3.Meta says the shows on the Quest 3 are “higher resolution” however has but to reveal any uncooked numbers. While we do not count on them to be as excessive decision because the Apple Vision Pro’s shows — that headset is 7x dearer than the Quest 3, in any case — enhancing the decision is a vital method to ship additional readability than simply the brand new lenses will ship.As far as we all know, this show continues to be an LCD — just like the Quest 2 — not an OLED or QLED show. If that is the case, count on comparable coloration illustration and black ranges as that of the Quest 2.(Image credit score: Sanzaru Games)There will not be any Quest 3-exclusive video games for some time however many video games will look and play higher on a Quest 3 than they may on a Quest 2.At this time, Meta will not be permitting builders to make Quest 3-exclusive titles. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth (Boz) mentioned that the Quest 2 will proceed to be supported for the foreseeable future however that we’ll finally see Quest 3-exclusive titles debut.When the Quest 2 debuted, it took 9 months earlier than we noticed the primary Quest 2-exclusive title that would not play on the unique Oculus Quest. Given that the Quest 2 has bought over 20x the variety of items as the unique Quest, we’re unsure that we’ll see unique titles make a debut fairly as rapidly.But we already know that builders are allowed to focus on Quest 3 {hardware} and make video games that look and carry out higher on the newer {hardware}. That means video games like Assassin’s Creed VR and Asgard’s Wrath 2 might be greater decision, have extra element, and have smoother efficiency on Quest 3.Quest 2 vs Quest 3: Controllers and hand monitoring(Image credit score: Meta)The Quest 3’s controllers are essentially the most radical change but in a mainline Quest headset. These controllers look quite a bit just like the Quest Pro Touch Pro controllers and are referred to as Touch Plus. Comparatively, the Quest 2’s controllers are simply referred to as Touch controllers.As you may guess, which means we’re various ranges of monitoring sensitivity. Quest 2 Touch controllers characterize the decrease finish, whereas Quest 3 Touch Plus are an improve, and Touch Pro controllers are high-end. Quest 3 can use Touch Plus and Touch Pro controllers, so you possibly can all the time get the perfect expertise for an extra value.The Quest 3’s Touch Plus controllers are higher than the Quest 2’s however inferior to the Quest Pro’s.The Quest 3’s controllers drop the LED ring that surrounds the Quest 2 controllers and places LEDs throughout the controller physique itself, as a substitute. The six cameras on the Quest 3’s headset can then observe these Touch Plus LEDs in the same method to how the Quest 2 tracks the Touch controllers.Quest 3 Touch Plus controllers will really feel much less cumbersome and will not have a hoop to smash into one another if you happen to get them too shut. If you have ever carried out this with Quest 2 Touch controllers whereas taking part in Beat Saber, you may understand how dangerous it could possibly really feel.(Image credit score: Meta)We count on that Quest 3 Touch Plus controllers may have much more correct monitoring than the Quest 2 Touch controllers for a number of causes. Besides the rise within the variety of monitoring cameras, the Quest 3 additionally has a depth sensor and an IR projector. If you have ever used an iPhone and have performed round with Animoji, you may understand how correct the mixture of IR projector and depth sensor may be.The IR projector and depth sensor ought to considerably enhance hand monitoring high quality.These two new items of expertise will be capable to observe your arms and arms a lot better than earlier than, resulting in each extra correct controller monitoring and extra correct hand monitoring. Recent video games like Rogue Ascent have confirmed that hand-tracked video games can truly be enjoyable and, given the rise in constancy we’re certain to see with the Quest 3, hand-tracking might be higher than ever all throughout the Quest expertise.Quest 2 vs Quest 3: Mixed actuality(Image credit score: Meta)Mixed actuality might be a headlining characteristic of the Quest 3, which could be very totally different than what we noticed with the Quest 2. As such, Meta has considerably upgraded the cameras and processing talents of the Quest 3 to ship a greater mixed-reality expertise. The Quest 3’s cameras are 10x the decision of the Quest 2 and ship full coloration with large dynamic vary.The Quest 3’s passthrough video appears to be like to ship an precise clear view of the room you are in, not like the Quest 2 or Quest Pro.This signifies that if you’re utilizing the Quest 3, you possibly can clearly see the room you are in so to nonetheless work together with the true world whereas taking part in within the digital one. That means you possibly can simply drink a cup of espresso, have a dialog with somebody within the room, bounce a digital ball round your bodily partitions, and even duel your pals in the identical room with digital swords.(Image credit score: Meta)By comparability, the Quest 2 solely delivers low-resolution, black & white-only video. Quest Pro was the primary Quest headset that supplied full-color “passthrough video” — which implies the headset makes use of the cameras to indicate you the room round you with out having to take the headset off — however the Quest Pro’s video high quality left quite a bit to be desired.One of the most important issues with the Quest Pro’s video high quality was the dynamic vary, which implies it was unable to provide you a visual picture of something brilliant. Windows had been utterly blown out and telephone and TV screens had been nearly utterly unreadable.The Quest 3 fixes this by providing up higher cameras that current a extra phone-like digital camera high quality to them, which means these brilliant areas are clearly seen with out making darkish areas of the room too darkish to see.Oculus Guardian is getting an enormous improve and might auto-map your room.Additionally, Meta is upgrading its Meta Reality toolkit to take full benefit of the Quest 3’s {hardware}. Meta Reality is a group of instruments that helps the Quest perceive what a wall is and the way it’s totally different from a flooring or a ceiling. Plus, it lets the headset know when a bit of furnishings, an individual, or a pet will get in your play house.The Oculus Guardian system can be getting an improve on the Quest 3 and might now make the most of the brand new depth sensor and IR projector to routinely scan and map the room round you, in accordance with a leak discovered by UploadVR. This ought to scale back — or perhaps completely eradicate — the necessity to arrange your room manually throughout the headset.(Image credit score: Meta)Having an IR projector on board additionally means the Quest 3 can play and observe precisely in any lighting circumstances, even when it is pitch black in a room. That’s as a result of the headset will venture its personal gentle that is invisible to the human eye.Given how Apple has pushed blended actuality with its Vision Pro headset, we count on to proceed to see enhancements and new issues taking form with the Quest 3.Quest 2 vs Quest 3: Which Quest is greatest?(Image credit score: Meta)When it involves expertise, newer is sort of all the time higher. There’s simply no getting round it. The Meta Quest 3 is best than the Quest 2 in each single approach conceivable, and that hole will solely proceed to widen as we see extra blended actuality experiences and options added to the Quest 3 over time.The Quest 3 is smaller, extra snug, has higher controllers, higher hand monitoring, can routinely map a room, see at midnight, ought to be almost 3x sooner, and has slimmer, clearer lenses than the Quest 2. While the Quest 3 will not have unique video games at launch, Meta already confirmed the plain: it’s going to occur finally.If you are simply now moving into VR and do not need to spend a lot, the Quest 2 continues to be a superb selection at $299. You’ll must resolve between the Quest 2 128 or 256 GB, relying in your wants and finances.But, if you’d like the newest and biggest or are excited to improve your Quest 2, the Quest 3 will debut at $499 this fall and ship some unbelievable experiences that may’t be had wherever else.
The Meta Quest 3 is essentially the most superior standalone VR gaming console ever produced. It’s sooner, smaller, has extra correct monitoring, and might ship higher VR and blended actuality experiences than ever earlier than.
The Quest 2 is lastly again to its traditionally low value, which means it continues to be one of the simplest ways to get into VR in an inexpensive approach. Plus, it is already bought an enormous library of must-play video games.