The Meta Quest 2 wasn't discontinued when the Quest 3 was released. In fact, it became a lower-tier model of a similar vein, despite its successor delivering mixed-reality colour passthrough, pancake lenses, and a better chipset. However, Meta has given the Quest 2 another price cut, pointing toward an imminent Quest 3 Lite reveal.
While the Quest 2 remains one of the best VR headsets, it's certainly reaching the end of the line. Much like the Quest 1 before it, virtual reality games are getting more and more intensive, requiring stronger hardware, and when it comes down to the Quest 2 vs Quest 3 debate, the latter has a more powerful chipset - the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 - which offers over twice the performance.
That leads us to today, where Meta has announced another price cut to the Meta Quest 2. Around the Quest 3's release, the 128GB model saw a price drop to $250, and Meta has now slashed it further to $200, according to UploadVR. However, it could mean that Meta is looking to replace the Quest 2 with the heavily rumoured Quest 3 Lite.
It's been reported from numerous sources that the Quest 3 Lite could be roughly $300. From the same sources, the Quest 3 Lite could be losing the controllers and offering Fresnel lenses from the Quest 2 to reach this lower price point, but it will still offer the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 found in the standard Quest 3, making the Quest 2 less off an exciting offer. However, this could be a good opportunity to pick up a cheap virtual reality headset if you just want to play some great titles, use the new Meta Quest+ library, or connect it to a VR-ready PC.
The Meta Quest 3 hasn't been officially revealed yet, including the name of the actual name of the device. We're hoping that many of the best Meta Quest 3 accessories are available to use with the budget-friendly Lite model, but regardless, having a cheaper VR headset could entice more people into the niche market of VR, which is always a good thing.