Gurman: The Meta Quest 3 is "far lighter and thinner" than Quest 2, stacks up against Apple AR/VR headset

This year, Meta is about to release a successor to its highly popular, affordable VR headset – the Quest 2 – which will aptly be named the Meta Quest 3. That's presumably happening in October, and until then, we also expect an AR/VR headset coming out from the most popular smartphone brand also – Appe. The Apple AR/VR headset is supposedly going to be unveiled in mere days, at WWDC on June 5th.

Reliable leaker Mark Gurman recently wrote in his newsletter that he was able to try out a prototype version of the Meta Quest 3, and in turn, has given us a description of what arguably the most popular (or second most popular) AR/VR headset in 2023 is like. And, how it may stack up against what it's shaping up to be its biggest competitor – the aforementioned Apple AR/VR headset, allegedly called Reality Pro.

Meta Quest 3 will be much thinner and lighter than the Quest 2, loses plastic sides

Perhaps the most exciting news for Quest 2 users is that, according to Gurman, the Quest 3 (or at least its current prototype) is "far lighter and thinner" than its predecessor. "The strap to place it on your head seems a bit stronger, and it uses fabric on the sides instead of the Quest 2’s plastic" he continues.

For context, the Quest 2 does have plastic sides, which hold its bottom-firing speakers, as well as the sides of the head strap. As it seems, its successor may lose, or at least shrink those, making it potentially more comfortable, compact, and, as suggested, lighter.

Quest 3 gets color passthrough and a depth sensor, with sensors that change its front design notably

Gurman also re-confirms the previous Quest 3 leak we wrote about a few months back, which led us to believe that its front will be notably different, than the plain plain gray face of its predecessor.

The Quest 3's front is described as having three pill-shaped sensor areas, the left and right of which will hold color passthrough cameras (which is an upgrade over the Quest 2's monochrome passthrough). The center pill contains a depth sensor, says Gurman, which is a first on a Quest, and likely a sign of the Quest 3's heavier focus on augmented reality (AR).

Adjusting the Quest 3's IPD will be easier, thanks to a new IPD wheel on the side of the headset

Gurman continues his description of the Quest 3: "The front lower sides of the headset each include one tracking camera, while the bottom has a volume rocker and a wheel to adjust the headset’s IPD — the distance between your pupils."

As Quest 2 users may be familiar, adjusting the IPD on it can be clunky, as it requires the user to take off the headset and manually push or pull its two lenses, in order to switch between three predetermined IPD options.

As it seems, the Quest 3 will not only allow for fine-tuning the IPD, but the process will be far simpler, with a new IPD wheel on the side of the headset.

For context, IPD stands for, as Gurman says, interpupillary distance – the distance between your eyes. Every modern headset supports adjusting it, as all humans have different IPDs, and a headset should be able to get close to each individual person's one, in order for that person to have a comfortable AR/VR experience.

The Quest 2 has an IPD range of 58-68mm, so we can only hope that the Quest 3 will get a larger one, on top of it being simpler to adjust.

Quest 3 display clarity – similar to Quest 2?

As for the actual display clarity of the Quest 3, Gurman says it felt quite similar to the Quest 2's clarity to him, despite rumors that the new model will get a higher screen resolution.

For context, the Quest 2 has a resolution of 1832-by-1920 pixels per eye, making it among the highest-res mainstream headsets. The upcoming Quest 3 has been said to have a way higher 4128-by-2208 resolution, according to previous leaks and rumors, but we should definitely take that with a grain of salt, considering Gurman's aforementioned statement.

An increase of the Quest 3's resolution is entirely possible and plausible, but it might be a more tame jump over its predecessor. A higher resolution would impact its battery life, or require a bigger one, making it bulkier, not to mention hitting the Android headset's performance.

Quest 3 mixed-reality / color passthrough seems promising

As previously mentioned, the Quest 3 will be getting a heavier focus on AR, which is made clear by its new depth sensor, and, perhaps most notably – color passthrough cameras.

According to Gurman, "it is a night-and-day improvement over the Quest 2", even if it may not be as great as he expects passthrough on the Apple AR/VR headset to be.

For context, passthrough is a feature of modern Meta headsets, which utilizes their cameras to show the user their environment, while also showing them digital objects within it (e.g. web browser windows, menus). The Quest 2 had it, albeit it used grainy monochrome cameras for that, so it was a bit of a rough experience.

As it seems, the Quest 3 will improve a lot in that area. In fact, Gurman goes as far as saying that the Quest 3's cameras appeared to show an almost lifelike rendering of the real world, so we're definitely excited to see it, soon enough.

Quest 3's performance gets much improved over the Quest 2

The Meta Quest 2 came out back in 2020, and is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 processor and 6 GB of RAM, which are essentially smartphone specs; and it makes sense for an Android-based VR headset. However, it's starting to show its age today, plus, it was never a beast of a powerhouse to begin with.

Based on his experience with the device, Gurman says that the Quest 3 felt "much improved over the Quest 2" when it came to the "speed of navigating through the device’s interface, launching apps and playing games".

The Quest 3 will be powered by a second-gen Snapdragon XR2 chip, and, according to older leaks, is getting a RAM increase from 6 GB to 12 GB. More RAM means more apps can stay open at the same time, loaded in memory, and considering the multitasking features we've been getting on the Quest 2, it makes perfect sense to increase it.

No final price just yet (but a price increase is almost certain)

The Quest 3 is expected to be released this October, and as far as we know, Meta hasn't decided on a price just yet.

It's almost certainly going to be more expensive than its $399 predecessor, as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that the company is aiming for a "price range of $300, $400, or $500, that zone".

Gurman now also reconfirms that Meta still hasn't decided on what the Quest 3's price will be just yet, but stay tuned to our dedicated AR/VR homepage – we should know this, and a lot more, in the coming months.

Learn more about the Quest 3 here:

• Meta Quest 3: release date expectations, and news

Does the Quest 2 still hold up? Check out:

• Quest 2 long-term review (2023)