Meta Join once more noticed its normal torrent of bulletins this yr, this time together with the official unveiling of Quest 3S, in addition to its new prototype AR glasses, Orion. Notably lacking nevertheless was firm’s three associate headsets from Asus, Lenovo and Xbox. The place are they?
Again in April, Meta revealed plans to open its Android-based XR working system Horizon OS to third-party producers for the primary time, signaling a monumental shift within the firm’s function as the only real headset creator for its XR platform.
On the time, Meta mentioned not solely would the corporate proceed to create Quest units, however the transfer can be a primary huge step in turning into the “open mannequin” as an ostensible foil to Imaginative and prescient Professional, vis-à-vis Apple’s patently closed gadget ecosystem.
Whereas one of many largest bulletins at Join this yr included the revealing of Quest 3S, a $300 combined actuality headset that the corporate hopes to deliver combined actuality to the lots, Meta didn’t make any point out of these three units, or when to anticipate them.
This largely is smart from a advertising and marketing standpoint; Meta needs Quest 3S to have the highlight proper now, and sure additionally one of the best possibilities because the Vacation shopping for increase certain to return. In any case, Quest 3S is now the corporate’s most inexpensive within the lineup, coming in a good sight cheaper than the now discounted Quest 3 512GB mannequin (now $500) and 128GB mannequin ($430), the latter of which is being phased out.
And Meta hopes to enchantment to new customers and upgraders alike with Quest 3S, which mishmashes Quest 2’s lenses and show with Quest 3’s Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and full-color combined actuality capabilities—notably permitting entry to combined actuality video games and upcoming Quest 3 video games, reminiscent of Batman: Arkham Shadow and Alien: Rogue Incursion.
This might imply we’ll be ready till subsequent yr to listen to extra about these associate headsets, supplied the corporate needs to keep away from muddying the waters with something however its personal lineup earlier than Vacation season kicks off. When the corporate lastly unveils them although, it’s going to give us a greater thought of how they’ll nestle into Meta’s core lineup, which solely now contains Quest 3 and Quest 3S, as Quest 2 and Quest Professional have now been discontinued.
