While Apple's Vision Pro offers a glimpse into the future world of mixed reality (MR), their high price may make users hesitant.
Back in The Verge's report last year, Meta's vice president of VR, Mark Rabkin, talked about plans to release a more affordable headset in 2024. Known as Insider is Ventura, Rabkin said the company is aiming for “the biggest punch at the most attractive price point in the consumer VR market.” For months, rumors have swirled about these glasses.
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Now, a new render can show us the design of the low-cost VR headset that Meta is aiming for. Posted on the X account of VR accessory seller VRpanda, the possible design for the upcoming headset gives us a closer look at the product. The post adds that this new headset could be called Meta Quest 3 Lite.
While it resembles previous Meta Quest models, the rendering appears to lack the through-camera array of the more expensive Quest 3. An affordable “Lite” version of the Quest 3 would need to cut some details to keep the price down, but cutting the camera array is something many hopes doesn't happen.
When it comes to price on VR headsets, it has more to do with the expensive chip capable of processing large numbers of pixels per frame than the camera. However, it appears that the upcoming Quest Lite will use the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip as the more expensive Quest 3, which raises questions about where Meta's cost-cutting approach lies with the Quest Lite.
Of course, it was only when Quest Lite launched that details about Meta's strategy for its low-cost product were revealed. A previous relevant rumor said this low-cost headset would not have a controller like the high-end version, and this seems more plausible.
It is known that Meta launched Quest 3 glasses last September. The device is equipped with Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip and has integrated 8 GB RAM with a starting price of 499.99 USD, 200 USD higher than Quest 2.