Meta Platform Inc.’s next-generation virtual and mixed reality headset, the Meta Quest 3, will launch in the fall and feature higher resolution, stronger performance, a slimmer profile and a $499.99 price tag, the company announced today.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, touted the upcoming device on Instagram, saying it would be the company’s “most powerful device yet” and include “high-res color mixed reality.”

With the affordable price tag and timing, it’s clearly aimed at consumers, unlike some higher-end devices. Even so, it’s hard not to think Zuckerberg is aiming to steal some mindshare from Apple Inc., which may show off its expected Reality Pro headset at its Worldwide Developer Conference next week. At an expected price tag of $3,000, it’s in a different class, but it’s likely to get wide attention.

He added that the headset is 40% thinner than its previous generation thanks to the inclusion of pancake optics, which allows it to be more comfortable. Also, Zuckerberg noted it would include a “next-gen Qualcomm chipset with 2x the graphics performance” of the Quest 2, which means a Snapdragon graphics processing unit chip, but there are no exact details yet.

As visible from the promotional videos, the headset itself has been redesigned from the Quest 2, although it retains the three-strap design to hold it onto the face. It remains cream-colored, with padding around the face and the scuba-mask design, but with three “slots” in front that appear to house the cameras and sensors that will drive the mixed reality experiences.

Virtual reality completely immerses users in a completely computer-generated experience where they are whisked away into a virtual world that takes over their vision, encompassing everything that they see. When they turn their head, they can look around a virtual environment that shifts and moves with their movements and gaze.

With mixed reality, the cameras on the headset “pass through” a view of the space that a person is standing in so that they can see both computer-generated graphics and other objects. Using the cameras, machine learning and spatial understanding, users can interact with virtual content within the physical world with gestures and play games while wearing the headset. Users could experience virtual games on their own kitchen table, sword fight in their living room, and play catch with dragons in their backyard.

Meta said this is its most state-of-the-art mixed reality headset yet, allowing creators to produce more vivid passthrough visuals. Using the pancake optics and high-resolution dual 4-megapixel, full-color, outward-facing cameras and a depth sensor, it can drive even more immersive experiences. According to the company, that means it can provide 10 times more pixels in passthrough than the Quest 2.

“Ultimately, our vision is to enable you to move through all realities in a way that’s intuitive and delightful,” said Mark Rabkin, vice president of VR at Meta, “going beyond the rigid classifications of ‘virtual reality’ and ‘mixed reality’ to deliver truly next-gen experiences that let you effortlessly blend the physical and virtual worlds.”

The Meta Quest 3 will also ship with redesigned Touch Plus controllers that have been streamlined for the hands. According to the company, upgraded tracking technology also means the cumbersome “tracking rings” have also been removed, so now the controllers are just simple handheld sticks. The controllers now also contain TruTouch haptics, which provides “thumps” and “bumps” to shake the user’s hand and provide extra immersion, first debuting in the Touch Pro.

Hand tracking is also available out of the box in the Meta Quest 3, which means users can go it alone without the need for controllers, thanks to Direct Touch technology that allows them to interact with virtual objects with their hands alone.

Quest 3 will be backward-compatible with the entire catalog of Quest 2 VR games and apps. That means owners of the Quest 2 will not lose access to anything they bought in the store and will retain access to more than 500 different apps and experiences that are currently available.

Meta promised more details about the Meta Quest 3 would be furnished at its upcoming Meta Connect conference on Sept. 27.

Quest 2 lowered in price and receives a performance upgrade

The Meta Quest 2 has been Meta’s VR consumer workhorse since it launched in 2020 and it’s getting a lower price tag. Beginning June 4, the Quest 2 starter model will drop to $299.99 for the 128-gigabyte model and $349.99 for the 256-gigabyte model.

Meta also announced an upcoming software upgrade that would update the Quest 2 and Quest Pro graphical processing unit and central processing units. Both Quest 2 and Pro will be getting a boost of up to 26% CPU performance increases. The Quest 2 will get up 19% GPU performance increase and Pro users will see up to 11% GPU performance increases.

Image: Meta