Meta’s $300 Quest 3S trades a worse display for a lower price

Low-end option, available Oct. 15, is also missing Quest 3's improved pancake lenses.

At a Connect conference keynote today, Meta officially unveiled the Quest 3S headset, a cheaper version of last year's Quest 3. The new spin-off device will be available in stores Oct. 15 for a price starting at $300 (for 128GB of storage).

That lower price for the Quest 3S comes with a few compromises compared to its predecessor. The biggest is the display, an LCD panel which matches the 1832x1920 per eye resolution of 2020's Quest 2. That should be a noticeable downgrade from the two 2064×2208 pixel LCD displays on the Quest 3. The 3S also mirrors the Quest 2's use of fresnel lenses, a downgrade from the pancake lenses on the Quest 3 which allowed for improved clarity and less bulky lens housing.

The Quest 3S also promises just a 96 degree horizontal field of view, down from 110 degrees on the Quest 3, and 90 degrees of vertical field of view, down from 96 degrees on the Quest 3. That should lead to a noticeable, relative "tunnel vision" effect that requires a lot more head movement to center an object in your VR vision.

Internally, the Quest 3S sports the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR Gen 2 processor as the Quest 3, meaning it should be able to run all the same games and programs. The new headset also uses the same hand-tracking Touch Plus controllers, which are included in the package alongside a code for next month's Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of Meta's Quest+ subscription service. A $400 package with 256 GB of internal storage will also be available.

An array of external sensors on the front of the Quest 3S gives it the same "high-resolution full-color passthrough" video capabilities as the Quest 3. Meta promises users should get 2.5 hours of average battery life on a 4,324 mAH battery. That's compared to a 2.2 hour average on a 5,060 mAH battery for the Quest 3.

Alongside the Quest 3S announcement, Meta also announced that it will be discontinuing both the Quest 2 and Quest Pro, "selling our remaining headsets through the end of the year or until they’re gone, whichever comes first," according to a blog post. The 128 GB version of the Quest 3 is also being phased out at a new lower price of $430, while the 512 GB Quest 3 will now be available for $500.

This piece has been updated with additional information from Meta's store page.