A new, cheap Meta Quest headset could arrive soon – here are the rumours so far

Meta might be bringing an interesting new headset to its Quest lineup in the form of a budget option - the Meta Quest 3 Lite or Quest 3s, depending on which leak exactly you believe.

The latest leak is from @Lunayian on X (formerly Twitter), and is extremely detailed, apparently based on multiple sources and devkits, painting an interesting picture.

It suggests that the Quest 3 Lite will basically keep most of the processing power of the Meta Quest 3, but stick them into an older package that resembles the Meta Quest 2 more. 

In particular, the new headset will apparently run on the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, just like the Quest 3, and might also have very similar controllers without any tracking rings, making them slimmer. 

Where things will take a chunky downgrade, though, is on the display front, where the Quest 3 Lite will apparently have 1,832 x 1,920 pixels per eye compared to the Quest 3’s 2,064 × 2,208. 

That'll be due to using the older lens system that Meta innovated on for the Quest 3, which makes sense from a cost perspective where manufacturing is concerned.

You'll apparently be able to enjoy software that is basically on an even level with the Quest 3, though, so if you don't mind a little reduction in sharpness, and a bit of a boost to the headset's bulk and weight, it sounds like a pretty intriguing option. 

Cost is also a major question mark hanging over the new headset, as is when it's announced - Meta amped things up a bit when it launched the Quest 3 at a more expensive price of $499 / £479 / AU$799. 

The Quest 2, after all, had arrived priced at $299 / £299 / AU$479, but there's quite a gap between the two, and it's hard to judge whether Meta will go full budget pricing, or whether it'll end up somewhere in the middle. 

The Quest 2's launch price isn't even representative now, of course, as you can find it for much less than that, so it's still a great option if you're on the hunt for a budget VR headset to try out the whole shebang.