Breakdown
- The Meta Quest 3 Lite render has leaked, according to accessories seller VRPanda
- The render doesn't include the front camera array for passthrough, which is different to previous rumours
- We'd recommend taking the leak with a pinch of salt, but Meta could be changing plans internally
Buying a Meta Quest 3 is a fairly expensive investment, and while it definitely has a spot on the best VR headsets list, many may not want to invest in the Quality of Life and performance improvements over the Quest 2.
Well, if you've been waiting for a cheaper model to arrive, it seems like the rumoured Meta Quest 3 Lite could be coming to save your bank account. Offering a budget-friendly upgrade, the Meta Quest 3 Lite is reportedly using the same chipset as the standard Quest 3, the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, while offering a few changes to make it cheaper.
However, as spotted by Android Authority, we'd urge caution on the recent leaked render of the Quest 3 Lite from VRPanda, despite them being a VR accessories store. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported late last year that the cheaper version of the Quest 3 would still be a mixed-reality headset, even going as far as not including controllers with the Quest 3 Lite, but the recent renders have no front camera array, meaning there will be no passthrough like the Quest 3 offers.
Not only that, but as Android Authority mentions in its article, a Meta blog post strongly hints at mixed reality being a future feature of Meta Quest headsets, so backpedalling this fast, and this soon, would be a strange business decision.
With that being said, Meta does have a history of changing features even ahead of a product's launch. The depth sensor for the Quest Pro was removed mere months ahead of the release for the device, so it's clear that Meta is willing to change features fairly close to a headset's launch. However, we'd still take this render with a rather large amount of salt, at least until Meta confirms more about the device.
We're looking forward to seeing more about Meta's attempt at a cheaper Quest 3, and we're also excited to see what comes of the Apple Vision Pro cheaper model if that arrives. Mark Zuckerberg seems to think the Quest 3 is more impressive than Apple's headset right now, so we hope that the Quest 3 Lite can keep the same energy.