iFixit’s Meta Quest 3S teardown reveals a Quest 2 ‘hiding inside’

What if I told you the Meta Quest 3S is successful immoderate ways conscionable a much almighty Quest 2 with colour passthrough? “Yes, of people it is,” idiosyncratic who’s work our coverage mightiness say, but iFixit shows conscionable however existent that is successful the teardown video it published today.

The archetypal hint of that is the headset’s Fresnel lenses, which iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari writes successful a blog post are “100% compatible” with those utilized by the Quest 2. The headset has the older headset’s IPD accommodation mechanism, arsenic well; and it shares the aforesaid azygous LCD panel, alternatively than utilizing one sheet per eye, similar the Meta Quest 3.

Legacy parts aside, iFixit recovered that the 3S uses 2 IR sensors for extent mapping alternatively of a azygous extent sensor. That “rare iterative betterment implicit the Quest 3” performed “exceptionally good successful unlit spaces,” Mokhtari writes successful the blog. And of course, it uses the aforesaid Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 SoC arsenic the Quest 3, and works with Meta’s newer Touch Plus controllers, which are sold separately.

As iFixit notes, nary of this should beryllium considered a atrocious thing. The changes marque the headset cheaper — the Quest 3S costs $299.99, portion the Quest 3 is $499.99. It besides means that if those reused parts break, it’s not hard to find replacements for them, since the Quest 2 has already been astir for 4 years.