It’s been about two years since the Meta Quest 2 was launched and there is speculation that a Meta Quest 3 is soon to be released mid to late next year. A recent leak supports this, with CAD images of the Quest 3 design shown by Youtuber SadlyItsBradley confirming that a new headset is in the works.
Bear in mind, these images haven’t been officially confirmed as authentic and if they are real, changes may occur in the design between now and next year. It’s also important not to confuse the Meta Quest 3 with the Meta Quest Pro which is a completely different headset. Before we get into the leaked Quest 3 details, let’s quickly touch on the difference between the Quest and the Quest Pro.
Meta Quest and Meta Quest Pro: The difference?
Meta have been open about their plans to have a two tiered product line of higher end and lower end VR headsets. On the higher end will be the Meat Quest Pro which is slated to be released later this year with a speculated price tag of over $1000 USD. On the lower end is the Meta Quest, with the current iteration, the Meta Quest 2, starting at $399.99 USD.
The biggest differences between the Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2, despite the price tag, is the target audience and the hardware packed inside. The Meta Quest Pro is designed more for work and productivity purposes whilst the Quest 2 is made for entertainment and gaming. The other big difference are the features and hardware, with the Meta Quest Pro able to pack more features inside when compared to the Quest 2 on account of its heftier price tag.
Meta Quest 3 features
Images courtesy of Bradley Lynch
Now let’s take a look at what the leaked images tell us about the upcoming Meta Quest 3, and how it compares to both the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro.
• Head strap: The Meta Quest 3 appears to have a similar soft head strap design as the Quest 2. This will come as a disappointment to some as the Quest 2 soft strap is well known for being uncomfortable. The decision to retain a soft strap is likely to keep the costs down.
This also means the battery will be stored in the front rather than the back, making the Quest 3 a front heavy device much like the Quest 2. Another difference with the strap is the location of the USB-C charging port and audio jack, which are now located on the headstrap arms, rather than the body of the headset like the Quest 2.
• Cameras and sensors: Quest 3 will feature two ‘canyon’ cameras on the side for 6DoF tracking and a four camera array on the front, along with a depth sensor for mixed reality purposes. Two of the cameras on front are also capable of full colour.
These features mean the Quest 3 will be similar to the Quest Pro in its ability to produce colour mixed reality experiences that accurately place digital objects into physical space. However, unlike the Quest Pro, the Quest 3 will not feature the cameras needed for eye and face tracking.
• Lenses: The Quest 3 will feature pancake lenses just like the Meta Quest Pro. The Quest 2 has fresnel lenses that need to be placed a certain distance from the displays. The advantage of pancake lenses is that they can be moved much closer to the displays allowing the Quest 3 to have slimmer design with better weight distribution.
• Displays: The Quest 2 features a single LCD display whilst the Quest 3 will have two LCD displays, one for each eye. Having dual displays make it easier to precisely adjust IPD and achieve a quicker refresh rate. IPD stands for ‘Interpupillary Distance” and is the distance between the centre of the pupils which varies from person to person.
• Tech specs: According to the leak, the Quest 3 is said to be driven by the Qualcomm XR2 Gen 2 (codenamed ‘Project Halliday’), which is an upgrade from the Quest 2’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chipset. Not much is known about the specifications of the XR2 Gen2 yet, but more details will probably be unveiled by Qualcomm later this year.
The Quest 3 may also have 512GB SSD storage and 12GB of RAM. This is an increase from the Quest 2, which currently offers 128/256GB models with 6GB of RAM.
• Other details: Based on the images, the Quest 3 will have a similar single fan cooling design to the Quest 2. It is also possible that the Quest 3 will be compatible with the Quest Pro charging dock.
That’s about all we have for now but we may see hear more about the Quest 3 at the Meta Connect conference happening October 11th. What improvements are you most hoping for with the Quest 3? Let us know in the comment section below!
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