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Meta Quest 3 vs Meta Quest 3S
Both devices below are described from their manufacturers’ own specification pages. Where a row does not apply to one of them, it says so rather than showing a dash — that is a different statement from “the maker does not publish it”.
Meta · Mid range
Meta · Entry level
Differences you can see
Pictures first, table second. Every chart is computed from the same published fields you can read below it — nothing here is an illustration.
- Meta Quest 3
- Meta Quest 3S
Resolution per eye
Panels at true pixel scale, one inside the other.
The sharpest panel here has 30% more pixels per eye than the softest — that is what you gain on small text inside a scene.
Field of view
Seen from above. The grey area is roughly the human binocular field (~200°).
- Meta Quest 3110° horizontal
- Meta Quest 3S96° horizontal
The widest field here is 110°, the narrowest 96°. A pair of human eyes covers about 200° — even the best of these shows less than two thirds of that.
Weight
On the whole catalogue’s scale, from 30 g to 830 g.
Meta Quest 3515 g
Meta Quest 3S514 g
30 g830 g
Battery
On the whole catalogue’s scale, from 45 min to 2880 min.
Meta Quest 3132 min
Meta Quest 3S150 min
45 min2880 min
Launch price
On the whole catalogue’s scale, from $199 to $38500.
Meta Quest 3$499
Meta Quest 3S$299
$199$38500
Brightness
On a non-linear scale, so a 200-nit and a 5000-nit device both stay readable on it.
Meta Quest 3100 nits
Meta Quest 3S100 nits
- Office lighting300 nits
- Overcast daylight1000 nits
- Direct sunlight5000 nits
Brightness only decides anything on see-through optics: it is what the image has to compete with. The reference levels below are approximate conditions, not product figures.
A training day
Runtime against charge time, with modules counted at 20 minutes each.
Meta Quest 36 modules per charge
In use132 min
Charging138 min
Meta Quest 3S7 modules per charge
In use150 min
Charging150 min
Two hours of use means something different if the headset is back on the shelf in forty minutes than if it needs half the morning. The module length is ours, not the manufacturer’s — divide again if your sessions run longer.
On sale, and supported
Two different questions: how long you can still buy it new, and how long the manufacturer keeps updating it. The dashed line is the end of a three-year training programme (2029).
Meta Quest 3 on sale since 2023 · support until 2028
Meta Quest 3S on sale since 2024 · support until 2029
available newmanufacturer support after the last sale
20222030
Sold and supported are not the same thing. A model can leave the shelves while its maker keeps shipping software to the units you already own — and it can stay on the shelves with no published support commitment at all.
What actually differs
Computed from the two records, most decisive first.
Price band
- Meta Quest 3
- Mid range
- Meta Quest 3S
- Entry level
Launch price
- Meta Quest 3
- $499
- Meta Quest 3S
- $299
Resolution per eye
- Meta Quest 3
- 2064x2208
- Meta Quest 3S
- 1832x1920
Field of view
- Meta Quest 3
- 110° horizontal
- Meta Quest 3S
- 96° horizontal
Weight
- Meta Quest 3
- 515 g
- Meta Quest 3S
- 514 g
Battery
- Meta Quest 3
- 132 min
- Meta Quest 3S
- 150 min
Announced
- Meta Quest 3
- 2023-06-01
- Meta Quest 3S
- 2024-09-25
Released
- Meta Quest 3
- 2023
- Meta Quest 3S
- 2024
Support ends
- Meta Quest 3
- 2028-10-10
- Meta Quest 3S
- 2029-10-15
Storage
- Meta Quest 3
- 512 GB
- Meta Quest 3S
- 128 GB · 256 GB
Battery capacity (Wh)
- Meta Quest 3
- 19.44 Wh
- Meta Quest 3S
- —
Battery capacity (mAh)
- Meta Quest 3
- 5060 mAh
- Meta Quest 3S
- 4324 mAh
They match on 50 further specifications.
Our verdict
If the course is built around guided actions and physical practice, buy Quest 3S and put the difference into more devices or more content. If trainees have to read, inspect detail, or work in mixed reality with the room visible, buy Quest 3. Both are officially sold in Poland, and both need third-party fleet management now that Meta no longer sells its own — so that cost is the same either way.
Full specification, row by row
30 of 90 rows differ.
| Specification | Meta Quest 3 Meta | Meta Quest 3S Meta |
|---|---|---|
| ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from. | Meta | Meta |
| CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all. | VR — standalone | VR — standalone |
| Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it. | Standalone VR, also PC-powered | Standalone VR, also PC-powered |
| AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped. | 2023-06-01 | 2024-09-25 |
| ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category. | 2023 | 2024 |
| AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today. | On sale | On sale |
| Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy. | 2028-10-10 | 2029-10-15 |
| PanelThe screen type. micro-OLED gives deeper blacks and higher contrast; LCD is brighter and cheaper. | LCD | LCD |
| OpticsThe lenses in front of the panel. Pancake stays sharp closer to the edges than older Fresnel, which decides how much a trainee has to aim their head to read something. | Pancake lenses | Fresnel lenses |
| Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue. | Both eyes | Both eyes |
| Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable. | 2064x2208 | 1832x1920 |
| Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort. | 72/90/120 Hz | 72/90/120 Hz |
| Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work. | 110° horizontal | 96° horizontal |
| Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves. | Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer | Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer |
| BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does. | 100 nits | ≈100 nits*VRcompare |
| WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour. | 515 g | 514 g |
| Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis. | Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer | 97° horizontal · 93° vertical |
| Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see. | 108° horizontal · 98.25° vertical · 113.3° diagonal | 104° horizontal · 98° vertical · 113.46° diagonal |
| Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens. | 80° | 90° |
| Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper. | 18.8 PPD horizontal (computed) | 18.9 PPD horizontal · 20.6 PPD vertical (computed) |
| Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens. | 25 PPD | 20 PPD |
| Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile. | RGB stripe · 3 subpixels per pixel | RGB stripe · 3 subpixels per pixel |
| Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance. | Fixed | Fixed |
| PassthroughWhat the front cameras give you: colour, grayscale, or nothing. | Colour | Colour |
| Passthrough camerasResolution, density and frame rate of that camera feed. | 18 PPD | Passthrough cameras: not published by the manufacturer |
| IPD adjustmentMatching lens spacing to the eyes. Motorised is fastest when one headset passes between people. | Manual | Manual |
| IPD rangeHow far the lenses travel to match eye spacing. A narrow range excludes part of any group of adults, which matters when one headset is shared. | 53–75 mm | IPD range: not published by the manufacturer |
| Works with glassesWhether people who wear glasses can use it — fits over them, or takes prescription lens inserts. | Yes | Yes |
| Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range. | Official lens inserts · -10 to 6 D | Official lens inserts |
| DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself. | Dimensions: not published by the manufacturer | ≈191.5 × 102 × 142.5 mm*VRcompare |
| Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear. | Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer | Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer |
| Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour. | Soft strap | Soft strap |
| MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words. | Plastic · foam facial interface | Plastic · foam facial interface |
| ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in. | White | White |
| Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers. | No | No |
| TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed. | inside-out 6DoF | inside-out 6DoF |
| Base stationsWhether boxes have to be mounted on the walls before it works. | Not needed | Not needed |
| Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is. | 4 | 4 |
| Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier. | Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer | Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer |
| Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras. | Yes | Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer |
| Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone. | Yes | Yes |
| Eye trackingThe headset knows where the trainee is looking. Enables sharper rendering where they look, and attention analytics. | No | No |
| Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios. | No | No |
| Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs. | Upper body, legs estimated | Upper body, legs estimated |
| Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only. | Yes | Yes |
| Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller. | Meta Quest Touch Plus Controllers | Meta Quest Touch Plus Controllers |
| Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only. | 6DoF | 6DoF |
| Finger tracking on the controllerWhether the controller senses individual fingers, and how. | Capacitive (partial) | Capacitive (partial) |
| Controller inputsButtons, sticks and triggers the controller offers. | Capacitive face buttons · capacitive joystick · capacitive touch pad · capacitive index trigger · middle finger trigger | Capacitive face buttons · capacitive joystick · capacitive touch pad · capacitive index trigger · middle finger trigger |
| Controller hapticsVibration feedback in the hand. | Yes | Yes |
| Controller powerDisposable cells or a built-in rechargeable — a fleet question. | AA batteries | AA batteries |
| Controller weightOne controller, as the vendor weighs it. | Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer | Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer |
| Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands. | Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer | Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer |
| PerformanceHow much the headset can run — sharper scenes, more objects, smoother mixed reality. Higher is better. | Very good | Very good |
| ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from. | Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 | Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 |
| CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them. | Octa-core Kryo (1 x 3.19 GHz, 4 x 2.8 GHz, 3 x 2.0 GHz) | Octa-core Kryo (1 x 3.19 GHz, 4 x 2.8 GHz, 3 x 2.0 GHz) |
| GPUThe graphics part of the chip. | Adreno 740 | Adreno 740 |
| MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be. | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak. | Meta Horizon OS | Meta Horizon OS |
| StorageOn-board space for downloaded courses. More matters for an offline library in several languages. | 512 GB | 128 GB · 256 GB |
| SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card. | No | No |
| BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure. | 132 min | 150 min |
| Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw. | ≈19.44 Wh*iFixit teardown, reported by UploadVR | Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer |
| Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two. | 5060 mAh | 4324 mAh |
| Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it. | 138 min | 150 min |
| ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above. | 18 W | 18 W |
| External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head. | No | No |
| Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with. | Charging case: not published by the manufacturer | Charging case: not published by the manufacturer |
| Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station. | No | No |
| Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today. | Yes | Yes |
| Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management. | Yes | Yes |
| Kiosk mode / MDMVendor tooling to enrol devices, push an app and lock the headset to it. Practically required above ten devices. | No | No |
| Business tierAn official business tier, so devices belong to the company rather than to employees’ personal accounts. | No | No |
| Swappable facial interfaceRemovable, wipeable face padding. A consumable, and the difference between shared use and complaints. | Yes | Yes |
| CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine". | CE | CE |
| PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts. | USB Type-C · charging contacts | USB Type-C |
| Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up. | 6E | 6E |
| BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories. | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly. | Over a cable · Wireless (Oculus Link) | Over a cable · Wireless |
| AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working. | Built-in speakers · Headphone jack | Built-in speakers |
| MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert. | Yes | Yes |
| MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not. | Microphones: not published by the manufacturer | Microphones: not published by the manufacturer |
| Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale. | Mid range | Entry level |
| Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale. | $499 | $299 |
| Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch. | Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer | Price by configuration: not published by the manufacturer |
| Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer. | $599.99 | $349.99 |
| Comfort (from reviews)How it wears over a full session. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers, not from our own testing. | 3 / 5Reviewers agree the centre of mass sits closer to the face than on Quest 2, so it feels lighter than its 515 g suggests. They split on the bundled soft strap: UploadVR found it fine for about an hour, Road to VR called it as poor as Quest 2's. For shared training, budget for a rigid strap.Road to VR review,UploadVR review | Comfort (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Edge clarity (from reviews)Sharpness away from the centre of the lens. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers. | Edge clarity (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer | Edge clarity (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Tracking reliability (from reviews)How tracking holds up in poor light and fast movement. Scored from agreement between independent reviewers. | Tracking reliability (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer | Tracking reliability (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
| Hand tracking quality (from reviews)How usable controller-free hand tracking is in a training scenario. Scored from agreement between reviewers. | 4 / 5Rated on agreement rather than our own testing: UploadVR finds less jitter, better accuracy and better handling of overlapping hands than PSVR2, and Road to VR reports Meta still shipping measurable improvements. Not a 5 because fast motion and low light still cost tracking.UploadVR, Quest 3 vs PSVR2 hand tracking,Road to VR, hand-tracking upgrade | Hand tracking quality (from reviews): not published by the manufacturer |
“—” means the manufacturer does not publish that figure. “≈” with an asterisk means it was measured by somebody else — follow the asterisk for who. Prices are an indicative net figure in USD, a snapshot from the date on each model page, not an offer.
Other comparisons with Meta Quest 3
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