We just got a good look at the guts in a Quest 3 headset. iFixit broke down the VR gear into individual parts to find out if the device delivers good performance for its price. Short answer: Yes, it is, although there are some design flaws that make it difficult to fix.
What is striking about the Quest 3 is that it has better mixed-reality capabilities than the Quest Pro. It is able to automatically map a room and accurately track the distance between objects without the need for a “safe space”. The former is made possible by a depth sensor, the latter thanks to the ‘time of flight sensor’. iFixit makes the interesting observation that the time-of-flight components could fit perfectly into the Quest Pro.
It’s worth noting Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, once said that the sensors were removed from the pro model because it added “cost and weight” without providing sufficient benefits.” The Quest 3 is much slimmer and weighs 512 grams.
Hardware improvements
Digging deeper into the headset, iFixit provided a zoomed-in look at the LCD panels through a high-powered microscope. The screens deliver a resolution of 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. This is bigger than the Quest Pro’s highest resolution of 1,920 x 1,800 pixels. The video explains that the Quest 3 can manipulate the intensity of color clusters, blending everything into the high-quality images we see. The combination of the LCD panels with the time-of-flight sensor results in a “much better (full-color) passthrough experience” than before.
Moreover, the headset has more power because it contains the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 XR2 Gen 2 chipset.
Of course, iFixit took the time to review the Quest 3 for its repairability, and Meta has – for the most part – done a good job on that front. The controllers are easy to repair because they are relatively simple in construction. They are held together by a few screws, a magnet, and a series of ribbon cables at the top. Replacing the battery is also quite easy, as each half requires a single AA battery.
Awkward repairs
On the headset it’s a slightly different story. The battery of the main unit is also replaceable. However, this is located in the center of the device behind 50 screws, several coaxial cables, various connectors, a heat sink and the motherboard. If you like to make repairs to your electronics yourself, it may take a while to repair the Quest 3.
Funnily enough, iFixit really makes a case for why and how the Quest 3 is a better headset than the Quest Pro. Granted, there’s no face and eye tracking, but if you have a more immersive mixed reality, are people really going to miss them? Plus it’s half the price. If the Quest 3 is the new standard going forward, it makes you wonder how Meta is going to improve on the Quest Pro 2 (assuming it’s in the works).
While we’ve got you, check out TechRadar’s list of the best VR headsets for 2023.