UPDATE: Sep. 25, 2024, 3:45 p.m. EDT This story has been up to date with extra particulars concerning the Meta Quest 3S.
Meta is launching a brand new entry-level model of its flagship digital actuality headset forward of the vacations, and preorders start immediately (Sept. 25).
CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the upcoming Meta Quest 3S on the outset of the corporate’s Join developer convention Wednesday. It appears to be like fairly just like final 12 months’s Meta Quest 3, however there are a number of notable spec variations between the 2 — and, most manifestly, a $200 value hole.
Set for a proper launch on Tuesday, Oct. 15, the Quest 3S is at present accessible for preorder on Meta’s web site beginning at $299.99 for 128GB of storage. (You’ll be able to bump that to 256GB for $399.99.) It comes bundled with two freebies, together with a replica of Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+. The latter is a subscription service valued at $7.99 per thirty days that unlocks two complimentary VR video games per thirty days.
Like the usual Quest 3, the Quest 3S additionally features a comfortable head strap, two Contact Plus controllers, two wrist straps, an influence adapter, a charging cable, and a pair of AA batteries. Its laborious head strap, carrying instances, and charging dock are nonetheless bought individually, too.
Mashable Mild Velocity
The variations between the 2 headsets largely relate to their visuals:
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The Quest 3S has a 1832 x 1920 decision show with 773 pixels per inch (ppi) and 20 pixels per diploma (ppd), versus the 2064 x 2208 decision show with 1218ppi and 25ppd on the Quest 3.
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The Quest 3S makes use of Fresnel lenses with 3 place interaxial adjustment distances (IAD) as an alternative of pancake lenses with steady IAD.
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The Quest 3S has a smaller area of view (FOV) of 96 levels horizontal/90 levels vertical as an alternative of 110 levels horizontal/96 levels vertical.
These are all slight downgrades, however the Quest 3S has a leg up over the Quest 3 in two different methods. One is a barely longer battery life: It is rated for a mean runtime of two.5 hours, up from 2.2 hours within the Quest 3. The opposite is a spacer for the person’s glasses inside its Facial Interface (the silicone goggle factor that presses up in opposition to your face).
The Quest 3 and the Quest 3S in any other case have the identical Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor, 8GB RAM, audio system, hand monitoring, colour passthrough, and “TruTouch” haptics. Additionally they work with the very same video games.
Meta Quest 3 overview: Learn this earlier than you even take into consideration shopping for
“Quest 3S is the best headset for those new to mixed reality and immersive experiences, or who might have been waiting for a low-cost upgrade from Quest and Quest 2,” Meta stated in a press launch.
Talking of: The arrival of the Quest 3S marks the demise of Meta’s Quest 2 from 2020 and Quest Professional from 2022; each fashions have formally been discontinued. It additionally prompts a everlasting value adjustment for the Quest 3: The 512GB mannequin now begins at $499.99, down $150 from its unique launch value in October 2023. (The 128GB base configuration was now not accessible on the Meta web site on the time of writing.)
