What we all know concerning the cheaper headset

Because of a mixture of fascinating {hardware} and an actual willingness to burn cash, Meta is on the forefront of virtual reality. The corporate is the go-to selection for those who’re trying to purchase a standalone VR headset, and the Meta Quest 3 launched final yr has solely made that extra sure. However the firm’s headsets aren’t as low cost as they was, one thing Meta might quickly handle.

After selecting up the items from the tepid response to the Quest Pro, the Quest 3 takes one of the best components of that early, costly blended actuality expertise and makes them extra approachable. The headset is thinner and lighter because of slimmer pancake lenses, its efficiency is healthier due to the brand new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 inside, and the addition of colour passthrough makes every kind of recent blended actuality experiences potential. All of these new options meant Meta launched the headset at $500 versus the Quest 2‘s unique $299 worth.

Providing a few of these options at a lower cost is a pure subsequent step, and based mostly on what’s been reported about Meta’s highway map of future merchandise, there must be a less expensive model of the Quest 3 launching within the second half of 2024. Here is what we learn about up to now.

The headset might be referred to as the Meta Quest 3S

Because the launch of the Quest Professional, Meta has maintained two strains of Quest headsets: The Quest Professional, with extra experimental options and higher-end specs, and the traditional Quest, designed to provide the very best digital actuality and blended actuality expertise for an affordable worth. The Quest 2 hung round after the Quest 3 launched to catch anybody who wasn’t keen to spend $499 on the latest headset, and now the Quest 3S is primed to switch it.

The Verge reported in 2023 that Meta was engaged on a extra “accessible” model of the Quest 3 to be launched in 2024, designed to “pack the largest punch on the most tasty worth,” in keeping with Meta’s vp of VR Mark Rabkin. On the time, the extra “accessible” Quest 3 was codenamed Ventura, and now, because of what seems to be a mistakenly printed Quest Retailer web page that lists the “Quest 3S” as a appropriate gadget, and what seems like leaked slides from a market analysis examine, it is doubtless that the Quest 3S is the official identify Meta goes with.

It has a boxier design

Moreover the brand new identify, the leaked market analysis slides additionally prominently characteristic a headset with a distinctly totally different design than the unique Quest 3. Fairly than a clean curve from the entrance of the headset to the perimeters, in these photos of the Quest 3S, there is a arduous angle the place the entrance and sides meet. The headset additionally seems to be thicker, nearer to the scale of the unique Quest 2. These modifications appear to be confirmed by a picture shared in a post from X user @ZGFTECH of what seems like an precise manufacturing model of the Quest 3S.

On high of these aesthetic modifications, as an alternative of three horizontal cutouts for the Quest 3’s digicam and sensors, the brand new headset seems to have a cluster of three cutouts on the proper and left sides of the headset, virtually like eyes. These will presumably home cameras for inside-out monitoring and passthrough (the video view of the skin world that makes blended actuality potential), however it’s not clear what else Meta would need to embrace. A depth sensor, just like the Quest 3? Eradicating it would save on prices. Infrared illuminator, to make organising headsets simpler at the hours of darkness? It is definitely a risk.

These renders and the leaked are doubtless not the ultimate model of what the Quest 3S will appear to be, however it does at the very least make sense that Meta would need to draw extra of a transparent line between its headsets. A distinct design helps create that distinction, and make it clear why a headset may cost a distinct worth.

It will not have a headphone jack, however it’s going to have an “Motion Button”

Exterior the brand new design, Meta seems to be altering the {hardware} performance of the Quest 3S compared to the Quest 3. In response to leaked photographs that have been shared on a Korean message board, the Quest 3S will not have a headphone jack, however will embrace a brand new “Motion Button” that may act as a bodily management for turning passthrough mode on and off, in keeping with an already published support page. The

Up till this level, every of Meta’s headsets shipped with a headphone jack for wired audio. Quest headsets characteristic built-in audio system that direct audio into the wearer’s ears, however wired headsets can enhance immersion and privateness. Technically, Meta’s headsets are appropriate with Bluetooth, however the delay a Bluetooth connection creates can typically be a distraction. There are methods round it, however evidently for the Quest 3S Meta expects house owners to make use of the built-in audio system or wired USB-C headphones whereas taking part in video games.

The “Motion Button” is a extra logical addition. On the prevailing Quest 3, Quest 2, and Quest Professional go out and in of passthrough by tapping the facet of the headset, a gesture that is not all the time picked up simply by Meta’s {hardware}. A devoted button makes the method full-proof. Possibly Meta will even let or not it’s reassigned to different widespread fast settings.

It’s going to have higher efficiency, however worse lenses

One key instance of these inner modifications that is been reported? A change again from slimmer pancake lenses used to the bigger Fresnel lenses that have been used on the Quest and Quest 2. The Wall Street Journal writes that Meta’s cheaper headset will use lenses which are “cheaper than these utilized in [Meta’s] most up-to-date mannequin, the Quest 3.”

Usually, pancake lenses are thinner and lighter, and may be positioned nearer to the show (or shows), permitting for an total extra compact headset. Fresnel lenses are thicker and heavier and want more room between the lens and show. The broad development is in direction of pancake lenses, however they’re dearer to supply and require brighter shows due to how a lot gentle will get misplaced throughout refraction. Switching again to Fresnel lenses, and based mostly on these market analysis slides, a 1,832 x 1,920 decision LCD, would let Meta lower down on manufacturing prices.

These financial savings might go in direction of together with the newer Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip that made the Quest 3’s improved graphics and total efficiency potential, one Chinese analyst writes. And to keep up app compatibility going ahead, it could make sense Meta would need to maintain the chip within the Quest 3S the identical. For what it is price, The Wall Road Journal writes that the cheaper Quest headset would doubtless have a “a extra superior graphic processing unit than utilized in [Meta’s] Quest 2,” so there is a rising consensus that that is the transfer.

It would ship with out controllers

The Quest 3 and Quest Professional have been each launched as being simply as helpful with controllers as they have been used with hand-tracking alone, however together with controllers within the field does introduce an additional value. Most of the best virtual reality apps and games — like Beat Saber or Supernatural — depend on controllers to work, however as Meta pushes into productiveness and leisure use-cases and even cheaper headsets, that may change.

Bloomberg writes that to supply a less expensive Quest 3 at an much more approachable value, the corporate is contemplating leaving controllers out of the field fully and making them a separate, non-compulsory buy. Meta’s hand monitoring has drastically improved through the years, however are there actually sufficient issues to do on a Quest with out a controller? That continues to be to be seen.

A less expensive Quest is on the best way

Compared to the Apple Vision Pro, Meta gives one of the best deal in digital actuality. However to succeed in the size that the corporate clearly desires — the billions of customers it is social platforms have — a less expensive choice is important. Primarily based on what we learn about what Meta has deliberate, the Quest 3S might be what anybody nonetheless on the fence about VR is on the lookout for.

We’ll doubtless know for sure later this yr. Meta Connect, the corporate’s annual developer convention, is scheduled for Sept. twenty fifth and twenty sixth. If there was any time they’d need to announce a brand new headset — or perhaps a pair of AR glasses — it could be there.