Next-Gen Meta Quest Headset Confirmed For 2023

It's been a few days since Meta introduced its new flagship-grade VR headset — the Meta Quest Pro — at the company's Meta Connect 2022 event. With a price tag of $1500, the Quest Pro is nearly four times more expensive than Meta's budget VR headset from 2021 — the Meta Quest 2. Given the significant price differences between these products, and considering that Facebook will need to address the affordable consumer-focused end of the spectrum with an updated product, the chances of Facebook working on a successor to the Meta Quest 2 were high.

However, Meta remained tight-lipped about plans for their next-generation consumer-focused VR headset. That changed during Meta's recent earnings call when the company's outgoing CFO Dave Whener confirmed (Via Engadget) that Meta plans to launch its next generation of consumer-focused Quest headsets by "next year."

Interestingly, Dave Whaner was not the only person to talk about this affordable VR headset. Confirmation about this new VR headset also came from Mark Zuckerberg himself, who referred to this product as Meta's "next-generation consumer Quest headset." Note that while neither of these individuals revealed the name of this upcoming product, chances are, it will be called the Meta Quest 3 when it finally launches next year.

While it is too early to talk about the possible feature additions on the Meta Quest 3, there have been reports about this product borrowing several features from its more expensive sibling — the Meta Quest Pro. Chief among them is the improved eye and face tracking feature, making the Quest 3 a significant upgrade over the Quest 2. Early rumors also indicate that the Quest 3 could feature a pancake lens array — similar to the ones we saw on the Quest Pro. With the addition of these new features, Meta could increase the prices of the Meta Quest 3, with current estimates putting the price tag anywhere between $300 and $500. This will make the product slightly more expensive than the $300 Quest 2.

It would be interesting to see if the Meta Quest 3 gets a processor upgrade over last year's model. The Quest 2 used Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 chip, while this year's Quest Pro model received the newer, more powerful Snapdragon XR2+ chip. This new chip offers performance and efficiency improvements over the previous generation.

While Meta executives indicated that they're working on the next generation of consumer VR headsets, they stopped short of revealing a launch time frame for these products. However, there is a good chance we'd need to wait another year for the Meta Quest 3 to arrive.