Quest 3: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Announces New Mixed Reality Headset Days Ahead Of Apple's Expected Unveil
Quest 3 will offer full-colour passthrough, allowing users to perceive their surroundings in vivid colour through the built-in front-facing cameras.
Meta unveiled its latest virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headset, the Meta Quest 3, on Thursday. Priced at $499, the Quest 3 will be available later this autumn. This launch comes just ahead of Apple's anticipated announcement of its own AR/VR headset during the upcoming WWDC developer conference on June 5. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted some key features of the Quest 3. He mentioned that the new headset will deliver twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, the Quest 2, while also being 40 per cent slimmer.
The Quest 3 will offer full-colour passthrough, allowing users to perceive their surroundings in vivid colour through the built-in front-facing cameras.
The Quest 2, released in 2020, has been a commercial success and, along with the original Meta Quest, dominates the market. Meta currently holds a commanding 80 percent global market share, as reported by IDC in 2022.
Aside from the headset's redesign, Meta revealed that the Quest 3 will come with reconfigured controllers called Touch Plus. These controllers will incorporate enhanced tracking technology, haptic feedback, and improved ergonomics.
In terms of content, Quest 3 will support the same library of games and applications as Quest 2, boasting a collection of approximately 500 titles and experiences.
In addition to the Quest 3 announcement, Meta also shared other updates. The company plans to reduce the price of the Quest 2 with 128GB storage to $299. Moreover, a forthcoming software update will enhance the CPU and GPU performance of the Quest 2.
This unveiling by Meta can be seen as a direct challenge to Apple, which poses a significant competitor in the AR/VR market. However, Apple's headset is expected to start at around $3,000, likely making it unaffordable for most consumers.
It's worth noting that the headset market, along with the wider gaming industry, has experienced a slowdown. According to IDC, device sales dropped by 20 per cent in 2022 following the peak in sales during the pandemic.
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