The Meta Quest 3, which launches on Oct. 10, goes beyond VR to also offer mixed reality experiences. "It is the most powerful headset yet,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at today's Meta Connect conference.
The company already revealed a lot about the Quest 3 in June, when Meta tried to steal the spotlight from Apple’s Vision Pro headset. But today, Zuckerberg hyped up the Quest 3's mixed reality function, which can overlay digital apps and games onto your real-world vision.
(Credit: Michael Kan/PCMag)The mixed reality leverages the hardware’s “passthrough” feature, which lets you see the outside world as you wear the VR headset. Meta’s earlier Quest models also offered passthrough, but restricted the viewing experience to grainy, black-and-white images. The Meta Quest 3 upgrades the experience to high-resolution, full color images, thanks to several exterior cameras on the headset’s casing.
The upgraded passthrough means the Quest 3 can power mixed reality programs. As a result, you’ll be able to see your real-world surroundings alongside Instagram, WhatsApp, or an interactive game. You’ll also be able to pin the mixed reality programs. For example, the headset can persistently show a virtual portrait of your photos when you face a side of your room.
(Credit: Michael Kan/PCMag)To power these experiences, the Quest 3 uses a more powerful chip: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor. “It’s got twice the graphics performance of anything we shipped before,” according to Zuckerberg, who also touted the headset’s redesigned “precision” controllers, which nix the outer tracking rings of the previous models for a more streamlined feel that should make the hardware easier to hold.
(Credit: Michael Kan/PCMag)On the downside, the Quest 3 will start at $499, a $200 price increase from the Quest 2's 2020 starting price. We’re also wondering whether Meta improved the product’s battery life; the Quest 2 averaged about two to three hours on a single charge. Stay tuned for our hands on.
