Meta Quest 3

The Meta Quest 3 sets a new benchmark for untethered consumer VR, improving on its predecessor in every way. That convenience makes it a worthy rival to the tethered gaming of PSVR 2, and sets a high benchmark for Apple to try and better.

The Quest 3 continues Meta’s legacy of offering a cost-effective headset that doesn’t require an expensive gaming PC, but can still benefit from one if you have it. That’s a unique feature that sets it apart from almost every other VR headset out there, other than its own predecessors. The Quest 3 goes even further by offering us a ticket to mixed-reality gaming with a full-color passthrough mode that’s sharp enough to read things in the world around you, the lightest and most precisely tracked controllers available, and more.

The Quest 3 is one of the easiest devices to recommend, even if you already have a Quest 2. I would say there’s at least the same leap in quality between the Quest 2 and Quest 3 as there was between Quest 1 and Quest 2.

Maybe this is the headset before the headset, the one that helps entice developers to make cool stuff that turn into killer apps for the Quest 4. Heck, maybe none of this matters until the device itself is less “headset” and more “glasses” and until we’ve had a series of societal debates about whether you should make fun of people who wear these things in public.

A huge leap forward in technology is only held back by basic comfort issues that require an additional cost to fix, and a lack of native software on day one. Meta are playing the long game with the Quest 3, and this is a headset that’s capable of bringing VR gaming to the masses.

With night-and-day graphics upgrades and the addition of mixed reality, the Quest 3 justifies its higher price. There’s enough here to even recommend Quest 2 owners upgrading.

I’m not sure this headset is doing much to entice people who aren’t already interested in VR and AR. But, it feels like Meta has done a thorough job of improving almost every spec and feature. It’s got everything you need without any unnecessary frills or add-ons. And Meta says the Quest 3 will be able to stream console titles to the headset via Xbox Cloud Gaming starting in December, so if all the existing and upcoming apps can’t hold your attention, you’ll have even more games to play.

However, there's also no denying that the Quest 3 feels a bit “jack of all trades, master of none.” Everything it does, it does well, but it does nothing at the apex of its class. A significant step up on Quest 2 in every respect, but it still might not be enough to make mainstream adoption of VR or MR an actual reality.