A leading tech commentator has already had a test drive with Meta’s upcoming Quest 3 headset, the successor to the best-selling VR headset to date, the Meta Quest 2.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said he was given a sneak peek at the headset, which is due out later this year. “Meta planning to announce its latest model in October,” he wrote.
Why is a tech reporter being shown a hugely anticipated headset almost half a year out from its release? Because we are likely just a week away from the announcement of Apple’s first VR and AR headset, and Meta will want to steal a march on some of the features it will introduce.
For example, the Meta Quest 3 reportedly has colour pass-through cameras. These sit on the front of the headset, allowing a view of the world around you to be beamed into the headset.
The Meta Quest 2 has only monochrome front cameras, which you use to draw your play area during a session.
“I was even able to use my phone while wearing the headset, something that often feels impossible on a Quest 2,” Gurman said. Much higher-quality video pass-through of your surroundings is something Meta brought to the Meta Quest Pro. It sounds like the Quest 3 is to bring this kind of clarity to those without a £1,000 budget for a VR headset.
Meta Quest 3’s upcoming features
The headset will reportedly not have everything that the Pro model offers. The Quest 3 will not have eye tracking, for example. This can be used to let players control VR experiences with their eyes, and to dramatically improve VR visuals.
How? Eye tracking means a headset knows where you are looking. It can therefore render that area of a scene at a much higher quality level, while leaving the areas in your peripheral vision less detailed to preserve processing power.
Gurman also says there’s an easy-access wheel to control the position of the in-headset displays — moving them closer or further apart to match the distance between the wearer’s eyes. This is a pretty important upgrade for those who have a family headset, likely to be used by a handful of people regularly.
It “feels far lighter and thinner” than the Quest 2, apparently, another boon for those who like to spend extended periods in VR games.
The headset is unsurprisingly set to use the Snapdragon XR2+ chipset, just like the Meta Quest Pro. “The headset includes a second-generation version of Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon XR2 chip,” says Gurman.
Qualcomm says this provides up to 50 per cent greater “sustained power” than the Quest 2’s XR2.
Meta Quest 3 vs Apple VR headset
Could a Meta Quest 3 tease like this eclipse the Apple XR headset? No chance. However, it does serve as a reminder that headsets like the Meta Quest and Pico 4 series are the VR sweet spot for many people. The Quest series alone had sold almost 20 million headsets by March 2023, The Verge reported.
Apple’s VR headset is expected to cost as much as $3,000, which would likely work out at around £2,700-£3,000 based on current UK pricing of other Apple products. Recent higher-price VR headsets have struggled. The Meta Quest Pro and Sony PSVR2 both underperformed. However, Sony recently announced its headset sold 600,000 units in its first six weeks, beating the original PSVR from 2016, VGC reported.
We should learn more about Apple’s mixed-reality headset on June 6, when the company is expected to reveal it as part of the WWDC show.
