At its 2023 Connect conference on Wednesday, Meta launched its Quest 3 mixed reality headset as a successor to the popular Quest 2. The Quest 3 was originally announced earlier this year by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg just days before Apple unveiled its Vision Pro headset. Back then, Meta announced a few interesting tidbits about its next-gen headset, including its price and ETA, but most of the tech specs remained a mystery.

The Quest 3 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and packs 8GB of RAM. It also comes with the much-fancied 'passthrough' feature that allows users to see the real world outside the headset, making the device less isolating and the content more realistic. To use the passthrough mode, users have to double-tap on any part of the headset to get them out of the fully immersive virtual content and into the real world with virtual elements overlaid on real-life surroundings.

Another major improvement over the Quest 2 is the 'pancake' lens optical stack that not only makes for sharper, high-res images, but also gives the device a slimmer optic profile compared to Quest 2. The headset comes with a 4k+ 'Infinite Display' (two displays with 2064 × 2208 resolution per eye) that Meta claims offers a 30 percent improvement in visual resolution compared to the Quest 2. According to the company, the device offers "25 pixels per degree and 1,218 pixels per inch for the best resolution across the entire Quest line". The Quest 3 also has a 40 percent louder audio range than Quest 2, while being thinner and offering a "more balanced weight distribution" for maximum comfort.

Despite all the new features, the Meta Quest 3 is priced at a relatively modest $499.99 for the 128GB version, while the 512GB model comes with a $649.99 price-tag. Both are now available for pre-order on the official Meta Quest website, with shipping expected to start on October 10.