It has been lower than three months for the reason that Meta Quest Professional first went on sale, and it is already getting a $400 low cost.
The brand new worth, $1,100, is not everlasting: It is just for one week within the US, and two weeks within the UK (the place the worth is dropping to £1,300). Nevertheless it’s a notable discount for a headset that was extensively criticized for its excessive worth when it debuted final fall.
Watch this:
I Used Meta Quest Professional: This is What It is Like
10:35
The Meta Quest Professional is a step-up design from the two-year-old Quest 2 headset, however the Quest 2 solely prices $400, whereas the Professional, even at its on-sale worth, prices practically thrice as a lot.
The Professional has some benefits over the Quest 2: It has a higher-res show, matches extra simply over wider glasses, has redesigned controllers that may monitor motion with their very own built-in cameras, provides coloration passthrough cameras and improved combined actuality, and has eye and face monitoring. However its bulkier design and generally shorter battery life imply it is not all the time a transparent enchancment for everybody, it runs VR apps principally the identical because the Quest 2, and its built-in processor is not actually a lot totally different.
The Quest Professional promotion is accessible on Meta’s retailer and at third-party shops, and it is a limited-time promotion for now. However it might be an indication that Meta’s already contemplating extra worth cuts for its {hardware} as competitors screeches across the nook.
Sony’s PlayStation VR2 arrives in late February, and so does HTC’s Vive XR Elite, one other standalone pro-level VR headset with a decrease $1,099 worth. Apple’s rumored VR headset is predicted in 2023, and could possibly be introduced anytime this yr. Meta’s personal Quest 3 is predicted later within the yr, and will embody a number of Quest Professional options at a a lot lower cost.
It should be a busy yr for VR {hardware}. Whereas the Quest Professional is getting a big worth drop for now, you most likely wish to wait it out and see what else occurs, or keep on with the Quest 2 it’s possible you’ll have already got.
