Meta Quest 2 VR Headset Rings In 2024 With A Permanent Price Cut, Accessories Too
In a move that Meta is pitching as a way to "make VR more affordable and bring even more people into the community," the Facebook firm is permanently slashing the price of its previous generation Quest 2 VR headset. Same goes for several of Meta's Quest 2 accessories, including the Elite Strap (with our without a battery), carrying case, Active Pack, and Fit Pack.
"Much like Quest 3 made waves as the first mass-market mixed reality headset to hit shelves, Quest 2 paved the way by ushering VR into the mainstream. And with our new pricing, it remains the most affordable way to get into VR and experience all that our industry-leading content ecosystem has to offer," Meta explains in a blog post announcing the updated pricing.
Here's how the new pricing shakes out...
- Quest 2 Headset w/ 128GB: $249.99
- Quest 2 Headset w/ 256GB: $299.99
- Quest 2 Elite Strap: $49.99
- Quest 2 Carrying Case: $44.99
- Quest 2 Elite Strap with Battery: $89.99
- Quest 2 Active Pack: $59.99
- Quest 2 Fit Pack: $39.99
It's been an interesting journey for the Quest 2, in terms of pricing and features. When the Quest 2 launched in October 2020, it was offered with 64GB of built-in storage for $299.99 and 256GB of storage for $399.99. Meta later replaced the 64GB model with a 128GB SKU at the same price.
Then in July of last year, Meta announced it was raising the price of the Quest 2 with 128GB to $399.99 and 256GB to $499.99 "in order to continue investing in moving the VR industry forward." Despite still being one of the cheaper options for a capable VR experience, reactions to the price hikes were not positive.
In October of last year, Meta released the Quest 3, which is offered as part of an Asgard's Wrath 2 bundle priced at $499.99 for the 128GB model and $649 for the 512GB SKU.
The updated MSRPs for the Quest 2 amounts to a $50 price cut on both storage options. They've been selling for $249.99 (128GB) and $299.99 (256GB) since the Black Friday sales bonanza, and now Meta is making those the permanent price points.
It will be interesting so see how long the Quest 2 sticks around. While Meta's messaging is that it wants to make VR more accessible, this could also be a way of clearing out previous generation inventories—out with the old and in with the new, in other words. We're not saying that's definitely the case, just that it's possible.
Either way, these are fantastic price points, especially considering the Quest 2 was Meta's top non-Pro headset up until just two and a half months ago. The Quest 3 offers several improvements over the Quest 2, such as a higher resolution display, an expanded field of view, better tracking, and slightly longer battery life. But those amenities now cost twice as much or more. Both the Quest 2 and Quest 3 also feature the same SoC, Qualcomm's XR2 Gen 2, though the Quest 3 nets more DRAM (8GB versus 6GB).
