If you’re looking to buy a VR headset, stop what you’re doing. In a few days, Meta’s best VR headsets will see a permanent price drop, and the savings will be significant.
Meta announced that on March 5 its budget 256GB Oculus Quest 2 model will see its price drop to $429.99 / £429.99 / AU$719.99 – $70 / £70 / AU$70 less than its current cost. Despite the device being over two years old, its Snapdragon XR2 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 1832 x 1920 pixel resolution per eye display make it a very capable headset, one that still deserves the four rating. stars and a half we gave it up in our Oculus Quest 2 review.
However, we should note that this isn’t the best deal we’ve seen on the Quest 2, its 256GB model has been cheaper. Before a big price increase in July 2022, the model was £399 / $399 / AU$639. Also, during Black Friday 2022, you can buy the device for $429.99 / £429.99 and get two great games for free (Beat Saber and Resident Evil 4 VR). The Quest 2 also has a less expensive 128GB model for $399.99 / £399.99 / AU$629.99, though it’s currently unaffected by the price drop.
The much better deal to have is with the Meta Quest Pro. On March 15th, this headset will see a permanent price reduction to $999.99 / £999.99 / AU$1,729.99 – a whopping $500 / £500 / AU$ discount 720 of what you would pay to buy it at the time of writing this article.
In our Meta Quest Pro review, we originally gave the device three and a half stars. Its improved specs over the Quest 2, like its Snapdragon XR2 Plus chip, 12GB of RAM, and miniLED display, as well as its improved design, make the Quest Pro feel like a vast improvement over what Meta has produced before. However, these improvements didn’t quite justify its original price of $1,500/£1,500/AU$2,450.
Its unique features—full-color streaming (allowing the user to see the real world in full color), eye-tracking, and face-tracking—might have helped make its original cost feel more reasonable. Unfortunately, these tools seem more like gimmicks than worthwhile upgrades. There are very few mixed reality apps that make color pass through seem necessary, and even fewer pieces of software that rely on eye or face tracking.
The new price of $999.99 / £999.99 / AU$1,729.99 feels much more appropriate for what the device is capable of, and that’s why we’re amending our review to award the Meta Quest Pro headset four stars.
Speaking with a Meta representative, the price change is being introduced to make Meta’s hardware more appealing to people who are on the fence about VR, as well as those weighing their options on which of the best VR headsets to choose from. virtual reality they should buy.
For the past two years, the Oculus Quest 2 has dominated the VR space in terms of market and mindshare, though several rivals are now threatening its dominance. The Pico 4 is a budget alternative to the Quest 2 that boasts slightly better specs (albeit with software that isn’t quite as impressive but has rapidly improved since its launch in 2022), while the PlayStation VR 2 headset is pricey but offers a amazing gaming performance (our sister site TRG gave it four stars on their PSVR 2 review). At the same time, upcoming headsets like the HTC Vive XR Elite and the rumored Apple VR headset are expected to challenge the Meta Quest Pro, with a better price and better specs, respectively.
By lowering the price of its headphones, Meta’s hardware will be able to better compete with its competition. The 256GB Quest 2 model will be cheaper than the equivalent Pico 4, and the Quest Pro’s new price will make it more affordable than the Vive XR Elite (which will launch at $1,099 / £1,299 / around AU$1,625).
The PSVR 2 will still sit among Meta’s offerings at $549 / £529 / AU$879 if you simply compare the prices of the headsets. However, in real terms, when you factor in the price of a PS5, which is needed for PSVR 2 to work, the new cost of Meta Quest Pro will make it the same price as Sony’s hardware. Together, a regular PS5 and PSVR 2 would set you back $1,048.99 / £1,008.99 / AU$1,678.95, or cost $948.99 / £918.99 / AU$1,528.95 if you opt for a PS5 Digital Edition (which lacks a disc drive).
