Quest headsets are commonly understood to be a loss leader. Analysts believe that Meta loses money with every unit sold. The strategy has been a big win for market share, as the social media giant is able to dramatically undercut competition like HTC Vive. It’s thus far been less of a victory for the company’s bottom-line. At its Meta Connect 2024 keynote Wednesday, the company unveiled an even cheaper version of its mixed reality headset.
With a $300 starting price, the Meta Quest 3S is a full $200 less expensive than the Quest 3. Clearly Meta’s strategy of flooding the market with devices is still in full effect with this one.
“Quest 3S is the best headset for those new to mixed reality and immersive experiences and for those who might’ve been waiting for a low-cost upgrade from Quest and Quest 2,” Meta notes in a blog post.
While the Quest 2 and Quest Pro are officially being sunset with this news, Quest 3 is sticking around with its own price drop. The 512GB model drops from $650 to $500. Meta will also be bundling the new Batman: Arkham Shadows title and three months of subscription Quest+ with all purchases of a Quest 3 or 3S.
Meta has, naturally, made some cuts to drive the new model’s starting price down to $300. That includes quite a bit less storage at 128GB, though if that’s not enough, you can get the 256GB model for $100 more. The 3S also sports a downgrade display. In fact, it’s the same 1832×1920 resolution display found in the Quest 2; this is, no doubt, the single largest cost-cutting measure, down from the Quest 3’s 2064×2208.
The field of view is also the same as with the Quest 2, at 96H/90V, versus the 3’s 110H/96V. The 3S is a gram lighter that the 3 and 9 grams heavier than the 2. The model also has the best average battery life, despite sporting a smaller battery than the one in the 3.
Judging the spec rundown, Meta could just as easily named the new headset the Quest 2.5. That said, the 3S sports 8GB of RAM like the Quest 3, along with the same Snapdragon XR Gen 2 chip.
The Meta Quest S3 is up for preorder Wednesday. It starts shipping October 15.