Meta Quest 3S vs 2: A Practical Comparison

The Meta Quest 3S has a big job ahead of it. It’s a more affordable version of the Quest 3, one that should let people upgrade from the original Quest and the super-popular Quest 2.

The latter headset has sold an estimated 20 million units since its release in 2020.

It has done more to make VR mainstream than any other headset. But for VR to move forward, Meta Quest 2 must be consigned to the past.

ForbesMeta Quest 3S vs. 3: What you lose and gain with the cheaper headsetBy means of Andrew Williams

I used both headsets back to back. Here’s what potential buyers need to know about how the Quest 3S does and doesn’t go beyond the Meta Quest 2.

Color pass-through, but manage your expectations

While the Quest headsets are great virtual reality gaming platforms, Meta wants them to be more than that. Mixed reality is at the heart of this.

It’s where part of the experience can include your surroundings, as there are color cameras on the outside of the headset.

As you can see from their positioning, the Quest 3S cameras roughly match the position of your eyes, while there are also additional tracking cameras on the side.

The Quest 2 cameras are black and white and are located on the corners of the front of the headset. They can only provide black and white passthrough because their field of view is so wide.

In good lighting, the Quest 3S’s throughput is miles better than the Quest 2’s. You can even read text messages and emails on a phone screen you hold up to your face.

However, we are not at the level of an Apple Vision Pro here. The feed can seem quite noisy and soft at times, especially if you’re playing at night and only modest lighting is turned on in the house. The image of your surroundings just doesn’t look clear and detailed.

There is a new special action button

The Meta Quest 3S has a new button on the bottom. Meta calls it the action button.

Its main role is to switch between immersive motion and passthrough mode, where you see your real environment instead of the virtual words the headset pre-projected.

The other Quest headsets have similar controls, but use gestures instead of a button. Instead, in the Quest 2, you tap the side of the headset twice.

The lenses still have a narrow focus window

As far as I know, the Quest 2 and Quest 3S have identical or at least very similar lenses. They are the Fresnel type, not the pancake style used in the Quest 3.

This also means that the Quest 3S, like the Quest 2, also has a narrow sharpness sweet spot. Both headsets are quite picky about where the lenses are located in relation to your eyes. There is also very noticeable softness and patchiness in your peripheral vision.

A big jump, or widening, in the cone of sharpness was my personal favorite upgrade from the Quest 3. It makes the fit seem less finicky and you can more successfully look around instead of moving your head. This doesn’t work very well in the Quest 2 or Quest 3S.

The Quest 3S gets more games and high-quality visuals

While there’s no upgrade in optics or panel resolution in the Quest 3S, compared to the Quest 2, that doesn’t mean you won’t see a big visual improvement in apps and games.

The newer headset has the Qualcomm Snapdragon

The Snapdragon XR2’s close cousin is the Snapdragon 865, featured in the Samsung Galaxy S20. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen is similar to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, used in the Samsung Galaxy S23.

It’s three generations ahead and the GPU of the more recent phone equivalent is up to 3.5x as powerful. However, real-world performance levels are a little different with the Meta chipsets, as the headsets must provide consistent, reliable performance levels. A phone’s performance often drops dramatically after a few minutes due to heat buildup.

Since the Quest 3S has the same processor as the Quest 3, you’ll see upgraded versions of apps and games coming to the newer headset. There are also exclusive titles for the newer generation, most notably the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Shadow.

The belt is still bad

Don’t come to the Meta Quest 3S hoping for a vastly improved tire. The design is only slightly different from the Quest 2 and isn’t an obvious comfort upgrade.

If you are or will become a VR enthusiast, you will probably want to replace it with something better soon.

The Quest 3S uses Quest 3 controllers

Meta switched to the Quest 3 controller style, the Quest Touch Plus, for the Quest 3S. This design removes the ring that sits above your hand in the older style. It’s an upgrade in some ways, but not in all ways.

Thanks to the way the cameras in the Quest 3 and Quest 3S work, these newer controllers provide better tracking when held close to your body. But they are worse for tracking if held above your head.

However, that’s not exactly a likely place for in-game gestures, especially when most developers are focusing on the Quest 3 and Quest 3S models going forward.

However, other people have also complained that the new controllers suffer from tracking issues when you move your hands at high speed. That’s not good news for those who enjoy VR workouts. I haven’t had these problems, but I haven’t dabbled in VR boxing.

Verdict: Worth the upgrade?

Meta Quest 2 owners will need to upgrade to at least the Quest 3S if they want to stay on top of VR trends.

With the older headset you are excluded from true mixed reality experiences. And as the months and years go by, we’ll see more games not supporting the Quest 2.

But is it really an exciting upgrade? Arguably not, as the optical quality is comparable here and the lenses are just as finicky about head positioning, which is improved in the standard Quest 3.