The full-color passthrough on Meta’s Quest 3 is a substantial upgrade over the Quest 2 and opens the door to some exciting augmented reality apps alongside the standard VR experience.
Apple should watch out: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Quest 3 is packing some powerful capabilities that could steal some thunder from the upcoming Vision Pro headset.
The Quest 3 launches on Oct. 10 starting at $499. We tried it out at the Meta Connect conference, and after a 30-minute session with the device, the Quest 3 left me impressed with its mixed reality functions. It seems poised to draw comparisons to Apple’s own approach to the technology.
Full disclosure: I haven’t had the chance to use the Vision Pro. But while wearing the Meta Quest 3, I couldn’t help but feel Zuckerberg’s $499 headset represents a far better deal over Apple’s own headset, which launches early next year for a whopping $3,499.
The price alone puts the Vision Pro out of reach for most consumers. The Meta Quest 3, on the other hand, appears to pull off a strong mixed reality experience, while also offering access to a growing library of VR games and apps.
Indeed, the first thing I noticed when I wore the Quest 3 is that I could immediately see my real-world surroundings, despite the headgear around my eyes. That’s because the next-generation Quest is outfitted with an array of cameras and sensors, which can effectively let the wearer see through the headset in high-resolution, full-color quality.
The “full color passthrough” alone represents a substantial upgrade from earlier Quest headsets, which also rendered the user’s real-world surroundings, but only in black-and-white, grainy visuals.
