Following a succession of leaks, Meta has officially unveiled its lower-priced Meta Quest 3S line of headsets, set to launch on October 15.
The Meta Quest 3S starts at £289.99 or US$299.99 for 128GB of storage, but there’s also a 256GB option priced at £379.99 or US$399.99. To put that into context, the 128GB Meta Quest 2 costs around $199.99, and the 128GB Quest 3 is now $429.99. However, Meta has confirmed that it is phasing out the Quest 2, Quest Pro, and the 128GB version of the Quest 3, leaving only the 512GB Quest 3 (now reduced by $150 to $499.99) as an alternative.
Specs-wise, the internals of the Meta Quest 3S are similar to the Meta Quest 3, and the inclusion of the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset means it will be able to run games previously exclusive to the Quest 3. The main differences, though, beyond a slightly larger form factor and lack of a depth sensor, are a narrower field of view and a reduction in display resolution – the 3S has a 1832 x 1920 resolution per eye, compared to the Meta Quest 3's 2064 x 2208.
At £290, though, the Meta Quest 3S still looks like a solid proposition for the VR-curious, especially as it comes with the Quest 3’s stylish Touch Plus controllers, three months of Meta Quest+, and a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow. Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips was impressed with this canonical new VR instalment in Rocksteady’s acclaimed Arkham series when he played it earlier this year, and Meta clearly thinks it’s a winner, too – it’s also included with all new Meta Quest 3 purchases made between now and April 30 next year.
Meta Quest 3S is set to launch on October 16th and pre-orders open today.