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Meta Quest 3

European Pricing for Quest 3 Accessories Allegedly Leaked

From roadtovr

Meta Quest 3, the company’s upcoming $500 standalone mixed reality headset, is probably going to get a big info dump at Connect 2023 later this month. It appears an ecommerce site in Europe has leaked some of the available accessories and prices.

As first reported by MIXED, Netherlands-based online vendor UnboundXR.eu listed a number of Quest 3 accessories and prices ahead of their official availability:

  • Meta Quest 3 Silicone Face Interface (Black) for €49.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Carrying Case for €79.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery for €149.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock for €149.99

Listings for everything but the Quest 3 carrying case have since been removed from the site.

Notably, those prices include value added tax (VAT), which in the Netherlands is 21%. It’s not clear exactly how that will look in US pricing, however when comparing previous accessory prices in the EU, US prices may look something like this:

  • Meta Quest 3 Silicone Face Interface (Black) for $39.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Carrying Case for $59.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery for $119.99
  • Meta Quest 3 Charging Dock for $119.99

Granted, that’s only some healthy specualtion, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

If Quest 3 is anything like Quest 2 in terms of accessories though, there are sure to be many more to choose from, including prescription lenses, left and right replacement controllers, and a version Elite Strap without the built-in external battery.

Speaking of Elite Straps, if you were hoping to save a buck by reusing a Quest 2 Elite Strap (if it isn’t already shattered to pieces), a leak posted by X user ‘VR Panda’ potentially reveals that the Quest 3 attachment point is notably smaller than Quest 2’s, meaning you’ll need to buy a new Elite headstrap for Quest 3.

Whatever the case, we’re sure to learn more soon at Connect 2023, which takes place September 27th – 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park, California headquarters.

Meta Appears to be Readying a Quest 3 Charging Dock to Streamline Usage

From roadtovr

A new charging dock from Meta, apparently for Quest 3, has been revealed through regulatory certification. As with Quest Pro’s dock, the goal of the new dock is certainty to streamline headset usage by encouraging users to keep it charged and always up-to-date.

Friction in VR—all of the clunk associated with putting a thing on your head, fitting it, then, going through menus to get to the software you want to use—is a tough challenge the industry has been slowly chipping away at over many years.

One major piece of that friction comes with keeping headsets charged and up-to-date. It’s an all-too-common occurrence for someone to forget to plug in their headset after a session and then realize the battery is dead the next time they have the urge to use it. Worse still, if it’s been a while since they plugged the headset in, it’s likely to need updates to both the core software and specific apps before it’s ready to go.

This is a clear issue, and one that Meta has attempted to address with an official charging dock, first sold alongside the Quest Pro headset. The dock charges both the headset and controllers, making sure everything is juiced and keeping the headset powered on and updated (well, when the auto updates actually work).

It would seem the company was happy with the benefits to retention brought by the Quest Pro dock, as a new charging dock—almost certainly for Quest 3—has been revealed by regulatory certification through the US Federal Communication Agency.

The FCC is tasked with certifying products with electromagnetic emissions to be safe and compatible with regulations. Products utilizing radio, WiFi, infrared, etc. need certification before they can be distributed for sale. Certification by the FCC marks one step closer to the launch of consumer electronics product.

The documentation reveals that the dock includes “wireless charging function for left and right controllers,” apparently up to 2.5 watts. That’s pretty slow compared to what we see from wireless charging on modern smartphones, but may be more than adequate for the Quest 3 controllers which don’t need as much power as a smartphone or the headset itself. The actual Quest 3 headset will continue to charge via direct contact as we can see by the pins revealed on the underside of the headset.

– – — – –

Wireless charging is an interesting change from the Quest Pro dock which exclusively relies on direct-contact charging. One reason for this change is likely that the current method of docking the Quest Pro controllers is quite awkward—sometimes leading to the controllers not charging when it looks like they should be. The headset itself is much easier to place in the proper location.

The Quest Pro controllers must be angled somewhat awkwardly to make proper correct contact with the dock for charging | Photo by Road to VR

A Quest 3 dock with wireless controller charging could create more tolerance for mispositioned controllers, leaving less room for user-error.

One big question is whether or not the dock will be included with Quest 3.

Considering Meta’s goal to keep the sticker price of the mainline Quest headsets low, we’d guess it will be made available as an optional accessory. But there’s a chance that Meta deems the dock important enough to the overall user experience that they opt to include it right in the box.

If it did come in the box, this would be the first time the company included rechargeable controllers in its consumer line of VR headsets. All prior consumer headset controllers from Meta have required AA batteries, though it’s always been easy enough to add recharging to the controllers through inexpensive rechargeable AA batteries.

The Quest 3 dock will unfortunately almost certainly not be compatible with Quest 2 controllers because the newer headset is using a new controller which the company calls Touch Plus.

Image courtesy Meta

The new controller does away with the tracking ring that has always been present on the company’s consumer VR controllers, and will likely include the hardware necessary for wireless charging.

Meta CTO Rebukes Report Claiming Cancellation of Quest Pro Line

From roadtovr

According to a recent report from The Information, Meta is allegedly spinning down Quest Pro alongside a broader move to cancel the future ‘Pro’ line of XR hardware altogether. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says however, “don’t believe everything you read.”

Meta has reportedly stopped ordering new components for the Quest Pro from its suppliers, The Information maintains. While it’s thought Meta will continue selling its $1,000 Pro-branded mixed reality headset as long as there is enough stock, the report alleges the entire Pro line has been suspended, putting a second-generation Quest Pro distinctly out of the question.

Speaking in an Instagram Stories post yesterday, Bosworth rebukes the claim that a potential Quest Pro 2 has officially been cancelled for good, saying that his team is developing multiple prototypes in parallel for all of its projects. Notably, he doesn’t address whether it’s spinning down the current version of Quest Pro, however he implies that the report of Quest Pro 2’s demise was the result of a disgruntled employee whose project was cut.

Here’s Bosworth’s statement in full:

“I have to explain this every year. There is no Quest Pro 2 headset until we decide there is. What I mean by that is there are lots of prototype headsets—lots of them—all in development in parallel. Some of them, we say, “that’s not the right one,” and we shut it down. Some of them, we say, “that’s the right one,” and we spin it up. What you need to understand is, until it goes out the door, it doesn’t get the name. So, there might be a Quest Pro 2, there might not be. I’m not really telling you, but I will say don’t believe everything you read about what’s been stopped or started. A lot of times it comes from someone who’s unhappy their particular project got cut when there are other projects that did not get cut.”

Still, it’s clear there’s been some turbulence in how Quest Pro was handled from the get-go. Originally launched for $1,500 in October 2022, Meta decided only a few months later it would slash Quest Pro by $500, putting at its $1,000 price tag today. Meanwhile, Quest 2 has seen multiple price changes, ranging from $300 to $400 for the same 128GB variant.

Fluctuating prices aside, Quest Pro’s raison d’être has never really been clearly defined, as the company has nebulously pitched it to professionals as a would-be workstation. In practice, Quest Pro has been more of a developer kit for studios hoping to build consumer apps for the cheaper Quest 3, coming in Fall 2023 at $500. Meanwhile, Quest Pro users have reported a host of usability issues since launch, decidedly making it feel a little less ready for prime time than the company probably hoped.

Whatever the case, Quest Pro 2 would need a much clearer value proposition—provided whatever prototypes Meta has waiting in the wings also don’t also get cut.

Meta Reportedly in Talks With Tencent to Bring Quest to China

From roadtovr

Facebook and Twitter have been blocked in China since 2009, but Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hoping to get back in that country with Quest, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report maintains that Meta has held discussions with several Chinese tech companies, making the most progress with massive entertainment conglomerate Tencent.

The Meta-Tencent talks reportedly came to a head late last year, with Tencent Chairman Pony Ma deciding to proceed with the negotiation first and “see what deals they could reach,” WSJ reports.

Undoubtedly the most complicated bit of the talks would revolve around VR content distribution, and how it’s moderated for Chinese markets. It’s said a portion of Meta’s global offerings could be on offer alongside Tencent’s own apps and services.

In 2009, Facebook and Twitter were banned in China after breaching Beijing’s notoriously strict censorship laws; the ban is thought to have been a direct effort to quel the July 2009 Ürümqi riots that took place in the country’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

More recently, Chinese executives were allegedly worried that Zuckerberg isn’t seen as “friendly to China” due to lingering tentions over prior accusations of technology theft by companies such as ByteDance, maker of TikTok.

A Meta spokesman declined to comment on WSJ’s report. Tencent didn’t respond to a request for comment.

This isn’t the first time Meta VR hardware has made a splash on the Chinese mainland. In 2018, Meta (then Facebook) penned a deal with Xiaomi to release a Chinese variant of Oculus Go, sold by Xiaomi as the ‘Mi VR Standalone’. At the time, this was something of a quid pro quo, as Xiaomi was tasked with manufacturing Oculus Go, giving it exclusive rights to the mainland Chinese market as a result.

No such manufacturing deal is in place with Meta Quest 3, which is coming this Fall for $500. In the end, Meta’s current strategy seems less about getting its subsidized hardware into the country, and more about driving a wedge into the Great Chinese Firewall so it can once again tap into the world’s fastest-growing economy.

Quest 3 Pops up in Best Buy Listing With Clues About Resolution, Release Date

From roadtovr

Quest 3 was announced just three weeks ago, and yet the headset is already listed at Best Buy. Though its resolution hasn’t been officially announced, the page gives us a big clue.

Meta offered a partial reveal of Quest 3 earlier this month, promising that we’d get a more full look at the new headset during the company’s annual XR conference, Meta Connect, at the end of September. The timing of the headset’s reveal came just ahead of the reveal of Apple Vision Pro (and we don’t think that was a coincidence).

Now, just three weeks later, Quest 3 already has a product page at consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, as spotted by XR analyst Brad Lynch.

Quest 3 Resolution

The store page already lists the headset with a model number, SKU, UPC, correct price, and product description, suggesting this isn’t an early fluke, but rather a product page for a soon-to-launch product. These details also suggest that Quest 3 has already passed FCC certification, which is required before it can go on sale.

And there’s a big hint on the page about the Quest 3 resolution, which Meta has yet to confirm.

According to the description, the headset has “a nearly 30% leap in resolution from Quest 2.”

Quest 2 has a resolution of about 3.5MP (1,920 × 1,832 per-eye); a 30% jump should mean Quest 3 has around 4.5MP—probably meaning around 2,160 × 2,160 resolution per-eye.

An Early Release Date for Quest 3?

Prior to its appearance at Best Buy we would have guessed that Quest 3 would launch in mid-October at the earliest—almost four months from now—which would align with both the 2023 holiday shopping season and the same timeframe of the Quest 2 launch.

But with the Best Buy product listing, it’s starting to look like the headset is rearing to go, making it feel like there’s a chance that Meta doesn’t just reveal the headset at its Connect conference at the end of September, but might even make it available immediately thereafter.

But why? Well, it’s clear that Meta has been responding to Apple’s moves now that Vision Pro is out in the wild. Even though the $500 Quest 3 isn’t remotely in the same ballpark as the $3,500 Vision Pro, Meta can already see the writing on the wall. The company may be posturing to protect its early lead in the XR space, trying to get Quest 3 out the door and in as many hands as possible before the Vision Pro’s early 2024 release.

Quest 3 Features Confirmed in First Hands-on

From roadtovr

It seems Meta is looking to stoke some hype for its next Quest headset just days before Apple is slated to unveil its own, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman released Quest 3’s first hands-on, confirming a number of features from previous leaks in the process.

Gurman detailed a number of features in his hands-on with the upcoming mixed reality headset, saying that Quest 3 feels lighter and thinner than the Quest 2, featuring a stronger strap with fabric sides.

Like we’ve seen in previous renders, Quest 3 is said to feature three vertical “pill-shaped sensor areas” on the front of the device. On the left and right are color video pass-through sensors and standard cameras, while a depth sensor is placed in the middle, which is used for environment meshing and automatic identification of surrounding walls.

Tracking cameras are found on both left and right bottom sides of the device, departing from Quest 2’s four-sensor array placed on each corner of the headset. Sounds pretty similar to the image featured in a previous leak from Bradely Lynch.

Image courtesy Bradley Lynch

Quest 3 is said to come with a physical interpupillary distance (IPD) adjustment wheel next to the volume rocker which will allow users to dial in a finer IPD measurement. As a departure from its Quest Pro-esque feature set, Quest 3 is said to lack face and eye-tracking, which means none of the lauded ‘social presence’ features or foveated rendering.

Notably, Gurman says the actual clarity and VR displays within the Quest 3 feel “similar to those in the Quest 2 — despite the resolution being rumored to be slightly higher.” It seems Quest 3’s claim to fame will be its color mixed reality passthrough and faster performance thanks to a second-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2.

“[V]ideo pass-through on the Quest 3 presented colors more accurately and offered an almost lifelike rendering of the real world. I was even able to use my phone while wearing the headset, something that often feels impossible on a Quest 2,” Gurman says.

There’s no mention of optics, or whether it will indeed use pancake lenses like Quest Pro or a Fresnel lens like Quest 2.

From Gurman’s description, it seems Touch controllers aren’t getting the Pro-level design either, as they appear to be optically tracked by the headset via IR markers à la Quest 2. It’s said to lack both Quest Pro’s embedded controller sensors and Quest 2’s hoop-style tracking design, which could be interesting.

Pricing for the Quest 3 isn’t finalized, however it’s expected to be higher than the Quest 2 at around $500. Meta is also expected to concurrently offer Quest 2, making for the widest headset lineup the company has ever offered at one time.

Gurman says Meta is set to target the cheaper headset segment while Apple targets the upscale market with its reported $3,000 mixed reality device. While Apple’s headset is expected to make its debut on June 5th, Gurman says Meta is bringing Quest 3 in October.

Report: Meta in Talks with Magic Leap for Multiyear AR Headset Tech Deal

From roadtovr

A report from the Financial Times maintains Meta is currently in talks with AR headset creator Magic Leap to strike a multiyear deal, which could include intellectual property licensing and contract manufacturing of AR headsets in North America.

The AR unicorn is said to possess valuable IP regarding custom components, including its optics, waveguides, and software.

It’s said a potential deal may also allow Meta to lessen its reliance on China for component manufacturing. In 2019, Magic Leap partnered with manufacturing solutions company Jabil to create a Guadalajara, Mexico plant which the report maintains can assemble headsets in “the tens of thousands a year.”

Magic Leap 2 | Photo by Road to VR

Citing people with knowledge of the talks, the report maintains however a specific joint Meta-Magic Leap headset isn’t expected.

While both companies didn’t comment on a potential partnership, Magic Leap said this to the Financial Times:

“Given the complexities of developing true augmented reality technologies and the intricacies involved with manufacturing these optics, as well as the issues many companies experience with overseas supply chain dependencies, we have entered into several non-exclusive IP licensing and manufacturing partnerships with companies looking to enter the AR market or expand their current position.”

Since it exited stealth in 2014, Magic Leap has released two AR headsets, Magic Leap 1 and Magic Leap 2, which have been compared in functionality to Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headsets.

The company has raised over $4 billion, with minority investors including Google, Alibaba, Qualcomm, AT&T, and Axel Springer. Its majority stakeholder is Saudi Arabia’s state-owned sovereign wealth fund.

In addition to Quest Pro mixed reality headset, Meta has confirmed it’s currently working on its next iteration of Quest, likely Quest 3, as well as its own AR glasses. Meta started real-world testing of Project Aria in 2020, a platform for training its AR perception systems and asses public perception of the technology.

Meta Plans Pricier Quest 3 With Features to ‘fire up enthusiasts’

From roadtovr

Meta’s Quest 3 headset, which the company has confirmed will land this year, is said to be positioned as a slightly pricier headset with features designed to appeal to VR enthusiasts.

For Quest 3, due out sometime later this year, Meta may be focusing more on its existing VR customers rather than trying to reel in brand new users.

According to a report by The Verge, Meta’s VP of VR, Mark Rabki, told thousands of employees that for the company’s next consumer headset, Quest 3, “we have to get enthusiasts fired up about it […] we have to prove to people that all this power, all these new features are worth it.” The Verge cites an internal Meta presentation held today as the source of this information.

Those features, which are largely expected to be a subset of what’s on Quest Pro, would make the headset cost “a bit more,” Rabkin said, than Quest 2 which currently sells for $400.

Leaks have consistently pointed to Quest 3 having pancake lenses, a more compact form-factor, and better augmented reality capabilities. The device is reportedly codenamed ‘Stinson’.

The improved AR capabilities, Rabkin hopes, will make Quest 3 feel easier to use.

“The main north star for the team was from the moment you put on this headset, the mixed reality has to make it feel better, easier, more natural,” he told employees, according to The Verge. “You can walk effortlessly through your house knowing you can see perfectly well. You can put anchors and things on your desktop. You can take your coffee. You can stay in there much longer.”

That would be swell, but Meta hasn’t exactly demonstrated that natural feeling with Quest Pro yet, meaning there is still significant work to do on the user-experience side if Quest 3 will meet those goals.

Something else that would surely ‘fire up enthusiasts’ for Quest 3 would be a dedicated video pipeline for PC VR tethering, rather than using the compressed Oculus Link or Air Link method that’s currently available on Quest 2. However, the company has shown little appetite for appealing to PC VR users as of late.

As for leaning into existing VR customers rather than pulling in new ones, this may be an effort to address Quest’s retention issues; while the headset has certainly sold well, Meta has been disappointed with the rate at which customers continue to use their headset after buying.

With regards to Quest 3 being more expensive than Quest 2, it seems that Meta has learned its lesson; having not established a substantial ads business in VR, heavily subsidizing headsets to get them out the door probably isn’t a good idea. Meta had to very publicly reverse that strategy when it raised the price of Quest 2 last year, by as much as 33% (though this was also related to inflation and broader economic turbulence).

The report from The Verge includes more info about the company’s XR roadmap, which you can read in full here.

Meta Confirms Next-gen Consumer Quest Headset Planned for 2023

From roadtovr

Meta quietly confirmed that its next consumer-focused Quest headset (likely called Quest 3) will launch in 2023.

While it was a bit more than a year between the launch of the first Quest and Quest 2, it’s now been more than two years since the launch of Quest 2 and Meta has yet to formally announce the next consumer-focused Quest headset.

Just a day after the launch of the $1,500 Quest pro, Meta today confirmed plans to launch what it called the “next generation of our consumer Quest headset” in 2023; ostensibly Quest 3.

Meta shared the brief confirmation with shareholders during its Q3 2022 earnings call, saying that the upcoming headset was a driver of the growing operating costs of its Reality Labs division.

A leak from an analyst with a history of accurate details on Meta headsets suggests that Quest 3 will bring some of Quest Pro’s new tech down to the company’s consumer line of headsets.