Meta’s Quest 3 has arrived with improved performance and mixed reality, but the Quest 2 costs less and has the same games, so which is right for you?
Meta’s Quest 3 is the newest and best VR headset for standalone gaming, but Meta is still selling two other models, the budget-priced Quest 2 and the premium Quest Pro. The Quest 2 is the lowest-cost VR gaming device, but is it good enough? And is the third-generation Quest really worth the extra expense?
Let’s compare the Meta Quest 2 to the Quest 3, sizing up performance, display and lens quality, mixed reality capabilities, and more. Being better isn’t always good enough — you need the difference to be noticeable and worth the significant price increase. Before diving in, make sure to pull up our full Meta Quest 3 review if you want all the details.What’s new in the Quest 3?
Meta continues to push affordable VR technology forward with the Quest 3. Everything the Quest 2 does, the Quest 3 does better. That comes at a higher cost. The Quest 3 starts at $500, 67% more than the $300 Quest 2, but half the price of the Quest Pro.
Meta’s Quest 3 headset isn’t meant to compete with Meta’s work-centric headset, but the Quest Pro’s lens technology inspired the design of the Quest 3. The image clarity is much improved, with a sweet spot of greatest sharpness thanks to the Quest 3’s pancake lenses.
The HTC Vive XR Elite and Pico 4, competing all-in-one VR headsets, also use pancake lenses. This is a trend that will continue, since the lenses are slimmer, lighter, and remove the blurring visible at the edges of the Fresnel lenses found in the Quest 2.
The Quest 3 also borrows a page from the Quest Pro to include color passthrough for better mixed reality. In fact, the Quest 3 has less distortion and higher resolution when using mixed reality. You’ll feel more immersed in a blend of your actual surroundings and virtual elements in games that take advantage of this feature. By comparison, the Quest 2 only has grayscale passthrough.
Meta’s latest headset has a resolution of 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye, exceeding the density of every other Meta Quest headset.
