It’s been less than three months since the Meta Quest Pro first went on sale, and it’s already getting a $400 discount.
The new price, $1,100, isn’t permanent: It’s only for one week in the US, and two weeks in the UK (where the price is dropping to £1,300). But it’s a notable reduction for a headset that was widely criticized for its high price when it debuted last fall.
Watch this:
I Used Meta Quest Pro: Here’s What It’s Like
10:35
The Meta Quest Pro is a step-up design from the two-year-old Quest 2 headset, but the Quest 2 only costs $400, while the Pro, even at its on-sale price, costs nearly three times as much.
The Pro has some advantages over the Quest 2: It has a higher-res display, fits more easily over wider glasses, has redesigned controllers that can track movement with their own built-in cameras, adds color passthrough cameras and improved mixed reality, and has eye and face tracking. But its bulkier design and sometimes shorter battery life mean it isn’t always a clear improvement for everyone, it runs VR apps basically the same as the Quest 2, and its built-in processor isn’t really much different.
The Quest Pro promotion is available on Meta’s store and at third-party stores, and it’s a limited-time promotion for now. But it may be a sign that Meta’s already considering more price cuts for its hardware as competition screeches around the corner.
Sony’s PlayStation VR2 arrives in late February, and so does HTC’s Vive XR Elite, another standalone pro-level VR headset with a lower $1,099 price. Apple’s rumored VR headset is expected in 2023, and could be announced anytime this year. Meta’s own Quest 3 is expected later in the year, and could include several Quest Pro features at a much lower price.
It’s going to be a busy year for VR hardware. While the Quest Pro is getting a significant price drop for now, you probably want to wait it out and see what else happens, or stick with the Quest 2 you may already have.