Official Meta support pages now reference Quest 3S, and one describes it as having a new button to toggle passthrough.
First spotted by VR enthusiast Luna, the “Full-color Passthrough on Meta Quest” support article now describes how this new button acts as a toggle between passthrough and immersive VR, replacing the unreliable double tap of previous Quest headsets:
Another article, called “Status display light colors on Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S”, references the repeatedly leaked headset too:
This isn’t the first time Meta has accidentally leaked the name Quest 3S. The official Quest Store accidentally listed Quest 3S as supported by some games at the end of May.
In June Meta’s CTO essentially confirmed that a Quest 3S was present in the background of a video he posted, and last week an official render of the headset was found in the Meta Quest Link PC files.
That render in the PC files may even clearly show the action button, positioned just behind the volume buttons on the bottom of the headset:
These support page updates come less than two weeks before Meta Connect, the company’s annual conference where it’s expected to launch Quest 3S.
Quest 3S: Meta’s Next Headset
A wide range of leaks and reports, including Meta’s hardware roadmap leaking in 2023, reveal Quest 3S is a cheaper version of Quest 3 intended to replace Quest 2 in Meta’s lineup.
Quest 3S will reportedly feature the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and color passthrough mixed reality capabilities as Quest 3, but use the old fresnel lenses and single panel from Quest 2 to achieve a price between $300 and $400.
XR2 Gen 2: Quest 3’s New GPU More Than Twice As Powerful
Quest 3 is the first headset to feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, with up to 2.5x more GPU performance and 8x AI performance. More details here:
Effectively, Quest 3S should be a cheaper Quest 3 with a bulkier design, inferior lens clarity, and lower resolution. The Quest 3S is a lower-quality device with similar content, capabilities, and features. This should allow more people to enjoy Quest 3’s VR graphics and also vastly increase the market for room-aware mix reality.