The leaked Meta Quest 3 Lite merges Quest 3 and Quest 2 features

A cheaper version of Meta Quest 3 is apparently on the way, and early specs have been revealed.

User X Lunayian claims to have spoken to “several people familiar with the device,” which has a “preliminary” name of Meta Quest 3s.

This headset is not as good as the Meta Quest 3, nor is it meant to be. In some ways, the experience of using it will be similar to a Meta Quest 2.

However, this upcoming headset should pique the interest of original Meta Quest users who are disappointed that their much-loved headset has been consigned to the VR graveyard.

Quest 3s vs Quest 2 meta

The biggest disappointment for big VR fans is that the Quest 3s is said to keep the same core optical specs as the Quest 2.

That means 1832 x 1920 pixels per eye with a “quick-switch” LCD panel capable of up to 120Hz refresh rates.

Fresnel lenses are also back. The Quest 3 uses pancake lenses, which help make content in your peripheral vision appear clearer. Having used both the Quest 3 and Quest 2, this lens switch is probably my favorite upgrade of the lot – not what I expected before trying both.

The leak says that the Quest 3s will have a “Meta Quest 2-style cup holder,” which makes it look like the design may share key components with the older version.

However, there are still big changes.

Features of Meta Quest 3s

The Quest 3s will reportedly use the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, just like the Quest 3. It has more than twice the graphics power of the Quest 2’s XR2.

This, surprisingly, may mean that some games actually run better on you Quest 3s than the Quest 3, thanks to the lower native resolution.

The Meta Quest 3s will also have a 4MP color pass-through camera with depth perception, instead of the basic black and white, to allow for proper mixed reality experiences. This aligns with Quest 3 and would be an essential element in making the creation of mixed reality experiences more compelling for developers.

It also uses the Quest 3 controllers, which ditch the sensor ring of the Quest 2 design. Some have complained that this causes significant problems in apps and games that require fairly large and fast arm movements. The newer style still has the same style of sensors, but they are easier to obscure, making the controllers more dependent on internal motion sensors.

Is the Quest 3s a good idea for the Meta? There are questions about how much it will cost and whether it will seem like a significant enough upgrade to current Quest 2 owners.

Here’s who should charm the Meta. Meta has sold around 20 million Quest 2 headsets, which isn’t that far off the latest estimate of 27 million combined sales of the Xbox Series X and Series S. It’s the mega hit that VR has had to date, and it’s hard to imagine another one of that scale now.