Quick Summary
Meta's CTO has seemingly given us a glimpse of an unannounced Quest headset, which appears on a desk in the background of a demo video.
It is thought to be the Meta Quest 3S, which is expected to be launched later this year.
Meta may have inadvertently confirmed the incoming announcement of a new Quest headset, thanks to its own chief technical officer.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth posted a video to Threads showing off some of the improvements coming in the next version of the Quest headsets' Horizon operating system, but eagle-eyed viewers spotted something else in the background.
There's a VR headset on a desk back there, and it doesn't really match up to any of the models currently available to buy – too large to be a Meta Quest 3, but too small to be a Quest 2.
This only really leaves one option. It looks for all the world like it's the as-yet-unannounced Quest 3S, a middle-ground version that brings the Quest 3's power to a bulkier body at a lower price.
This headset was leaked a few weeks ago in some detail, and the same leaker from that report has weighed in to confirm that they believe the clip does indeed show the Quest 3S.
If that wasn't enough for you, Bosworth himself responded to the leaker's post on X (formerly Twitter) to say: "love that higher quality video over on Threads…"
love that higher quality video over on Threads...June 4, 2024
That's about as nudge-nudge, wink-wink as you can get, and it all but officially confirms that the headset is both real and presumably very close to being announced properly.
This is all in addition to the fact that the Meta store was recently found to have mentions of the Quest 3S on some listing pages, again adding even more fuel to the fire.
The obvious question now is when we'll get an unveiling, but it might still be a couple of months away.
Meta is holding its annual Connect conference on 25 and 26 September this year, and that would be the obvious time to unveil a device like this, even if it isn't as headline-grabbing as the Quest 4 would be.
That'll also presumably be when we finally find out about its pricing, which is set to be a huge variable given that it's bulkier and won't have all the features of the Quest 3. Working out where to price it will probably be Meta's greatest challenge right now, frankly.
