Meta is expanding its virtual and mixed reality offerings with the launch of the new and cheaper Meta Quest 3S headset. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new design during a live presentation at the annual Meta Connect conference.

Set to ship on October 15, the new Quest 3S headset is available for pre-order starting at $299 for the model with 128GB internal storage, and $399 for the 256GB model. The Meta Quest 3s will include a free copy of the VR action game Batman: Arkham Shadow.

Compare that to the standard Meta Quest 3 released last year, which originally retailed for $499 for the 128GB model and $649 for a larger 512GB headset model. Meta said Wednesday that the 128GB edition will be discontinued, with the 512GB model of the Quest 3 taking over the $499 price point.

“Quest 3 is the best mixed reality device that you can buy today, and I'm really proud of it. But we don't just innovate to advance the state of the art,” Zuckerberg told the audience. “We also build technology and innovate to bring the future to everyone, and we've been working on bringing the Quest 3 family to a lot more people.”

Meta also said the company will soon discontinue the older Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets, which will be available through the end of 2024—or sooner if they sell out.

The new Quest 3S features the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip as the pricier Quest 3, providing apparently equal core performance, but lacks the Quest 3's depth sensor used to determine the depth and distance of the wearer's surroundings used to establish boundaries in mixed reality experiences.

Unlike the Quest 3, which uses a double tap to enable passthrough visibility via the outward-facing cameras, the Quest 3S also features a dedicated button that lets the wearer switch between immersive and passthrough display.

The Quest 3S comes with the same Touch Plus controllers as the Quest 3, and apparently offers slightly better battery life, with a target of 2.5 hours on a full charge rather than 2.2 hours with the Quest 3.

But there are some other trade-offs, which isn't a surprise given the price. The Quest 3s has lower-resolution displays compared to the core Quest 3, plus a more limited field of view and a different type of lenses. We'll have to wait and see how all of the changes add up, but $299 surely makes this an easier pick-up for a lot of prospective buyers, as it did for the Quest 2.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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