The Meta Quest 3S is a more affordable version of the Quest 3. Actually, it’s more of a mix between the Quest 2 and 3 to keep the price down. If you prefer the older, more capable model, you will be pleased to hear that prices are dropping (more on that in a bit). The 3S starts at US$ 300, but it uses the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset as the regular Quest 3 with the same 8GB of RAM. And it has the same color passthrough that was a major upgrade from the Quest 2 (it uses a 4MP camera to bring the real world in for AR experiences).
Instead of dual LCDs, the 3S uses a single
LCD with slightly lower resolution per eye (1,832 x 1,920px vs. 2,064 x
2,208px). The new LCD still offers fast 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates, however,
it lacks the 72Hz and 80Hz options (these come in handy when using PCVR, for
example, as dropping the refresh rate helps to increase the render resolution).
Perhaps more importantly, the slender
pancake lens of the Quest 3 was replaced by the old Fresnel lens of the Quest
2. This reduces the field of view to 96° horizontal and 90° vertical, compared
to 110° and 96°. The 3S weighs essentially the same (514g instead of 515g) but
has slightly better battery life at 2 hours and 30 minutes (vs. 2 hours 12
minutes). This is despite having a smaller battery (4,324mAh vs. 5,060mAh).
The Meta Quest 3S has two memory
capacities, 128GB and 256GB. You will find the prices below. Meanwhile, the
price of the 512GB Quest 3 has been reduced, so that remains an option too, if
you want the superior display experience.
