【Kurt Meinicke】

UPDATE: Sep. 25,Kurt Meinicke 2024, 3:45 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with additional details about the Meta Quest 3S.

Meta is launching a new entry-level version of its flagship virtual reality headset ahead of the holidays, and preorders begin today (Sept. 25).

CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the upcoming Meta Quest 3S at the outset of the company's Connect developer conference Wednesday. It looks pretty similar to last year's Meta Quest 3, but there are a few notable spec differences between the two — and, most glaringly, a $200 price gap.

Set for a formal launch on Tuesday, Oct. 15, the Quest 3S is currently available for preorder on Meta's website starting at $299.99 for 128GB of storage. (You can bump that to 256GB for $399.99.) It comes bundled with two freebies, including a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadowand a three-month trial of Meta Quest+. The latter is a subscription service valued at $7.99 per month that unlocks two complimentary VR games per month.

Like the standard Quest 3, the Quest 3S also includes a soft head strap, two Touch Plus controllers, two wrist straps, a power adapter, a charging cable, and a pair of AA batteries. Its hard head strap, carrying cases, and charging dock are still sold separately, too.

The differences between the two headsets mostly relate to their visuals:

• The Quest 3S has a 1832 x 1920 resolution display with 773 pixels per inch (ppi) and 20 pixels per degree (ppd), as opposed to the 2064 x 2208 resolution display with 1218ppi and 25ppd on the Quest 3.

• The Quest 3S uses Fresnel lenses with 3 position interaxial adjustment distances (IAD) instead of pancake lenses with continuous IAD.

• The Quest 3S has a smaller field of view (FOV) of 96 degrees horizontal/90 degrees vertical instead of 110 degrees horizontal/96 degrees vertical.

These are all slight downgrades, but the Quest 3S has a leg up over the Quest 3 in two other ways. One is a slightly longer battery life: It's rated for an average runtime of 2.5 hours, up from 2.2 hours in the Quest 3. The other is a spacer for the user's glasses within its Facial Interface (the silicone goggle thing that presses up against your face).

The Quest 3 and the Quest 3S otherwise have the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen2 processor, 8GB RAM, speakers, hand tracking, color passthrough, and "TruTouch" haptics. They also work with the exact same games.

"Quest 3S is the best headset for those new to mixed reality and immersive experiences, or who might have been waiting for a low-cost upgrade from Quest and Quest 2," Meta said in a press release.

Speaking of: The arrival of the Quest 3S marks the demise of Meta's Quest 2 from 2020 and Quest Pro from 2022; both models have officially been discontinued. It also prompts a permanent price adjustment for the Quest 3: The 512GB model now starts at $499.99, down $150 from its original launch price in October 2023. (The 128GB base configuration was no longer available on the Meta website at the time of writing.)