The latest Meta Quest 3 lite leaks, from specs to price

The cheapest ever Meta Quest headset could launch in 2024 for just $199

The budget-friendly Meta Quest 3 lite is rumoured to ditch the embedded cameras to save on costs (The Independent)

Rumour has it that Meta’s next VR headset will be less advanced but a lot cheaper than the current Meta Quest 3 – which launched in 2023 and tops our list of the best VR headsets today.

Recent leaks reveal a redesigned headset – called either the Meta Quest 3 lite or the Meta Quest 3s – that could cost as little as $199 (£156) when it launches in 2024. That would make it the cheapest ever Meta Quest headset, and one of the cheapest VR headsets around.

The budget price headset will reportedly cut costs by removing some of the more premium features of the Meta Quest 3 while keeping core components like the speedy Snapdragon XR Gen 2 processor.

The most recent alleged leak, posted by VR Panda on Twitter, suggests that the Meta Quest 3 lite would cut costs by removing the embedded RGB cameras and depth sensor, effectively disabling visual passthrough – that is, being able to see and interact with your real-world surroundings while wearing the headset.

Removing cameras would make the Meta Quest 3 lite much cheaper to manufacture, but it would seem to directly counter Meta’s earlier comments that mixed reality experiences should be a “standard feature” of future VR headsets. It would be a surprising downgrade to see.

Another leak, this time by Reddit user u/LuffySanKira, purports to show the Meta Quest 3 lite in an internal presentation slide. In this appearance the headset is called the Meta Quest 3s and features a front camera array, contradicting earlier rumours that the cheaper headset would ditch visual passthrough.

The slide compares the Meta Quest 3 lite to the regular Meta Quest 3 and details some of the new headset’s specifications. According to this rumour, the cheaper headset will have a resolution of 1832 x 1920 compared to the Meta Quest 3’s 2064 x 2208, and onboard storage of either 128GB or 256GB.

Read more: PSVR2 review – Sony gets VR right at last

We’d take both of these recent Meta Quest 3 lite rumours with a generous pinch of salt. They’re far from official and most likely to be mocked-up renders based entirely on speculation. We do believe that Meta is working on a more affordable VR headset however, in its efforts to drive mass adoption of the technology, but exactly how the tech giant will achieve this remains a mystery for now.

Meta Quest 3: From £479.99, Amazon.co.uk

(The Independent/Meta)

The Meta Quest 3 is an astounding virtual reality (now mixed reality) headset, and is arguably the best consumer device currently out there. With full-colour passthrough, a faster processor, a more comfortable and ergonomic fit, as well as better hand-tracking and, of course, those pancake lenses that make everything so much more stable, this is the VR headset to beat.

Read more: Meta Quest 3 review

The third-generation VR headset is a lot slimmer than the Meta Quest 2, and it’s all thanks to those new lenses. While it’s roughly the same weight as the Meta Quest 2, it has a smaller, less bulky profile overall, and we found the weight was more evenly distributed closer to our head (read: no slipping down your face if you don’t tighten the straps just right).

It’s a sleeker, more streamlined headset with plenty of adjustable elements, which helped us get the right fit, the perfect distance from our eyes and adjust the interpupillary distance (IPD) of the device.

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Got a PS5? Check out our full review of the PSVR2