Meta Quest 3S rumors: Everything you need to know about Meta's affordable mixed reality headset

Meta Connect 2024 will kickstart on September 25, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take to the stage to talk about the company's latest AI, wearable, and VR/AR (or mixed reality) projects — the most notable of which could be the new Meta Quest 3S.

Tasked with bringing mixed reality experiences into the hands of more people than ever, the Meta Quest 3S is set to be an affordable alternative to Meta's current Quest 3 headset.

However, while mid-cycle refreshes tend to divide a user base, Meta's approach is different than most. According to everything we've learned so far from credible sources and scrutinized leaks, Meta is bringing the same powerful computing components of the Quest 3 directly to this cheaper option while borrowing heavily from the Quest 2 in terms of design and optics.

It sounds like an incredible recipe for success and a sure-fire way to attract a wider mainstream audience to the augmented reality-focused third-generation of Quest headsets. Want to know more about the Meta Quest 3S? Let's take a closer look.

Meta Quest 3S: Release date

Meta hasn't announced an official release date yet for the Quest 3S, but it's practically a certainty that the company will do so at its upcoming Meta Connect 2024 event beginning on September 25 with the Connect keynote presented by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

While the original Oculus Quest launched in May 2019, the Quest 2 and Quest 3 launched in October 2020 and 2023 respectively. The Quest 3S will likely continue this trend and be released in October 2024.

For a more specific date, we can look at previous releases once again. Meta's Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets launched on the second Tuesday of the month. Following that pattern, preorders for the Quest 3S should follow the Connect keynote at Meta Connect 2024 with the headset becoming available for purchase for purchase on October 8.

However, an early listing on Amazon Australia suggests otherwise, showing various Meta Quest 3S bundles releasing on October 16. Accounting for time zones, that would place the Quest 3S' release date on Tuesday October 15, the third Tuesday of October.

Meta Quest 3S spotted in the AU Amazon store. 128/256GB, Release 16 Oct from r/OculusQuest

However, a recent early listing for the device on Amazon Australia suggests otherwise, showing various Meta Quest 3 bundles releasing on October 16.

Meta Quest 3S: Price

While we haven't gotten any official word from Meta about the price of the Quest 3S, an accidental advertisement release may have tipped us off to the headset's starting price.

As spotted by a Redditor on the streaming service Peacock, Amazon's latest Meta Quest advert concludes with a brief look at the Quest 3S, revealing its starting price and configuration in the small print.

According to the advert, the 128GB model of Meta Quest 3S will be available for $299 — the very same price that the 64GB version of the Meta Quest 2 launched for in 2020, and an incredible win for the mixed reality market when it comes to affordable and feature flush options.

$299 Quest 3S 128GB Confirmed by Amazon Ad on Peacock from r/OculusQuest

Meta Quest 3S: Specs

There are several major leaks that have informed us about much of what to expect when it comes to the specifications of the Meta Quest 3S. We'll be going over many of them in the sections that follow, but X user Lunayian gives us a brief and clear overview of what to expect from chipset to optics in a post from May.

Not only does this indicate that the Quest 3S will make use of the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset as the Quest 3, but, in turn, also the same Ardeno 740 GPU and 8GB of RAM.

A further leak has also revealed the Quest 3S' battery capacity to be 4324 mAh (16.74Wh), which is smaller than the one found in its more expensive sibling, but should at the very least even out to the same 2-3 hour playtime when accounting for the lower powerconsumption caused by the headset's LCD when paired with fresnel lenses.

Below is the complete list of rumored specifications we've come across ahead of the headset's release, though we'll be exploring many of them in further depth later in this article.

Meta Quest 3S: Design

Thanks to several leaked images of the Meta Quest 3S sourced from a South Korean message board, we've garnered some impressive details about the upcoming headset.

For starters, its body is a unique blend of the Quest 2's size and boxiness, blended with the semi-bulbous rounding of the Quest 3's chassis. This is likely due to the headset's return to a fresnel lens for optics, which requires a larger housing than the Quest 3's pancake lenses.

Also of note is the floating lens array. While differing from the Quest 3's layout in style, it's mostly the same lenses in the same positions. However, the Quest 3's depth sensor (an IR line projector) has been split in two, and each repositioned on the outer side of the front sensors and RGB passthrough cameras.

The Quest 3S will seemingly adopt the woven fabric facial interface (the cushioning around the viewport of the headset) of the Quest 3, along with its head strap design.

However, unlike the Quest 3, the Quest 3S will not feature the four-point spacing adjustment mechanism, the freely adjustable lens spacing or IPD wheel (instead, returning to the Quest 2's three-point lens adjustment), 3.5mm audio jack, or pogo charging pins.

Meta Quest 3S: Display and optics

As seen in previously mentioned leaks, it would appear that the Meta Quest 3S will be adopting the Quest 2's fresnel lenses. It's also likely that the 3S will borrow the same single LCD panel from Meta's second-generation Quest headset, along with its 20 PPD (pixels-per-degree) ratio and comfortable 120Hz refresh rate.

Several seemingly official leaked presentation slides of the product have also revealed the headset's 1832 x 1920 per-eye resolution — a downgrade from the Quest 3, but one that could potentially lend itself to smoother performance owing to both headsets' use of the same chipset and amount of RAM, albeit at the cost of overall visual quality and fidelity.

Meta Quest 3S: Controllers and tracking

In terms of tracking, the Quest 3S will adopt an almost identical approach to the Quest 3. It'll still feature the same dual 4MP RGB passthrough cameras at the front of the headset, and the two IR tracking cameras positioned below each. It'll also feature the same two "Canyon" IR trackers at the headset's bottom corners for inside-out body and hand tracking.

The only change from the Quest 3's layout is with the depth sensor, which has now been split into two IR illuminators positioned on the outer sides of the sensors at the front of the headset. Interestingly, this stereo-depth tracking could result in more accurate results for mapping, hand tracking, and dynamic occlusion in mixed reality.

As for controllers, there's a not-all-that-unconvincing suggestion that Meta may ship the $299 Quest 3S without controllers to keep down costs. We can't say for certain if this is the case, but we do know that the Quest 3S will be fully compatible with the Quest 3's Touch Plus controllers after Meta has seemingly updated its homepage's Help section to say so ahead of the headset's official unveiling.

Outlook

No matter how you slice it, the Quest 3S is looking like an incredible addition to Meta's VR/AR headset catalog, and one that could potentially dethrone the Quest 3 in popularity thanks to an incredibly impressive $299 price tag.

That's the same price tag that led many to give VR the chance it needed, through the Meta Quest 2, to expand from an enthusiast space to being the broadly appealing platform it is now — with Meta's headsets expecting several major AAA titles to release shortly, some of which being platform exclusives like Batman: Arkham Shadow.

It's an exciting time for mixed reality, and while some may have suggested that things are off to a slow start with the Quest 3, the Quest 3S could propel sales skywards and give Meta some real mainstream console recognition in return.

More from Laptop Mag

• Quest 3S, smart glasses, and AI: Here's what to expect from Meta Connect 2024
• Meta Quest 3S price leaks ahead of Meta Connect 2024
• Meta secures vital smart glasses partnership ahead of Connect 2024 — Here's why it matters
• This Meta Connect reveal could change AR and gaming forever — and it's not a VR headset or smart glasses