Meta Quest 4: Everything we expect from the Quest 3 successor
Leaks suggest Meta plans to sell the Meta Quest 4 and Quest 4S. That's a ways off, but we already have an idea of what to expect.
We likely won't see a Meta Quest 4 until 2026, based on the three-year gap between the Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 and, less speculatively, a recent leak that points to a 2026 release window. Still, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already hinted at Quest 4 features, and the Quest 1 and 2 were only 17 months apart — which means it's never too early to speculate.
According to The Information, Meta plans to sell a Quest 4 and Quest 4S in 2026, targeting high-end and budget VR fans simultaneously. Meta launches the Quest 3S this October, and with several Quest Pro 2 prototypes canceled, the Quest 4 could very well be its next headset.
Meta also reportedly wants to cut its Reality Labs budget by 20% by 2026, and with its new focus on the Meta Orion AR glasses, it's unclear how much resources will go into making the Quest 4 drastically different from the Meta Quest 3.
Below is a speculative list of what we'd love the Meta Quest 4 to deliver, from likely upgrades (based on hints from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg) to pie-in-the-sky requests — while acknowledging that the Quest 4 and Quest 4S may not be able to fit in every upgrade we want while remaining affordable.
Eye tracking
After the Apple Vision Pro launch, Mark Zuckerberg jumped on Instagram to criticize Apple's headset and say what the Quest 3 does better. In that video, he acknowledged that Apple's eye tracking is "really nice" but quickly explains that the Quest Pro had eye-tracking sensors first and that they intend to "bring them back in the future."
Since the Quest Pro 2 may not arrive until 2027, the Quest 4 is the most likely candidate, while the 4S likely wouldn't be able to add more cameras while staying cost-effective.
Why does eye tracking matter? The Quest Pro and PSVR 2 use it for foveated rendering, a graphical trick that concentrates the most graphical detail on where you're looking for faster GPU performance and better detail. It also makes it easier for the headset to warn you if the headset's interpupillary distance (IPD) doesn't match your eyes.
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Given Meta's newfound rivalry with Apple — which may or may not launch a more affordable Apple Vision headset in 2025 — we suspect it'll find a way to squeeze eye-tracking cameras into the Quest 4 design.
New Snapdragon hardware (and an AI boost?)
Although Mark Zuckerberg said back in 2021 that Oculus/ Meta had custom silicon plans for the Quest 3 and 4, Meta ended up sticking with Qualcomm for the Quest 3, and it reportedly laid off its FAST silicon team last year. While Meta made custom chips for Project Orion, our guess is that Qualcomm makes the most sense for mass-produced VR headsets.
For that reason, we'd expect to see the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 3 in the Meta Quest 4 and 4S, with a major performance boost redesigned from the flagship Snapdragon 8 series — probably the 8 Gen 5 or Gen 6 by that point. The Quest 4 should benchmark higher than ever, offering the same Quest 3 games but with further graphical enhancements.
Meta added Meta AI to Quest in its August update, and it's revamping its AI tools on its Ray-Ban smart glasses. It stands to reason the Quest 4 will have a more powerful NPU for better AI performance, so you could ask the AI about whatever you're looking at in mixed reality.
Neural interface band
During his Apple Vision Pro roast, Zuckerberg claimed that eye and hand tracking are "not a perfect control system" and that you need a keyboard or "neural interface" for better accuracy. Later that month, he went on a podcast and elaborated that the company's wearable electromyography (EMG) band can interpret the "nervous system signals" from your brain to your hand for better gesture controls.
"You'll essentially be able to type and control something by thinking about how you want to move your hand," Zuckerberg explained, for a "private and discreet interface." And he claims the technology is "close to product-ready" and will be in a Meta product "in the next few years."
During Meta Connect 2024, they showed off the EMG band as a controller for the Meta Orion smart glasses, and it worked extremely well for gesture controls, better than hand tracking alone.
The Quest 4's late-2026 release date would ideally qualify as within the next few years! Ideally, Meta could ship an EMG band in the box as an augment to hand tracking; we've even speculated that Meta could make it a fitness tracker, too, broadcasting your heart rate to the headset so you can see how hard you're working out during VR exercise sessions.
Built-in Elite Strap
One of the key Quest 3 vs. Quest 2 differences is a redesigned cloth strap that better balances the side-to-side weight; unfortunately, it also presses a bit against your ears, and it still doesn't do enough to keep it secure for fast-paced exercise apps. We wish it had shipped with a built-in Elite Strap, but it's another area where the Quest 3 design team cut corners to keep the cost low.
We'll hope, perhaps in vain, that the premium Quest 4 will adapt to a new, non-cloth design while the Quest 4S sticks to cloth. Most of the best VR headsets out there use a secure frame with soft, water-resistant lining and a back knob to secure it to your head, along with a top strap to offset the weight on the sides of your head.
Meta itself sells an $80 Elite Strap you can install yourself, and third-party Quest 3 accessories offer alternatives. But we'd love it if Meta could make the Quest 4 built for better comfort and security from the start.
A display upgrade
The Quest 3 displays received a 30% resolution boost over the Quest 2 and Quest 3S, giving you an impressive 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye, or 1,218 pixels per inch. That's 445 more PPI than the Quest 2 and 418 PPI more than the PSVR 2. That said, the Vision Pro hits 3,386 PPI, so we can assume the Quest 4 will close that resolution gap.
One unchanged Quest 3 aspect is its LCD display, even though the Quest Pro used QLED and rival headsets use OLED or Micro LED. This is another area where we'd like to see an improvement, if it doesn't run up the Quest 4 price too much.
LCD is more affordable, helping Meta keep the price low, but it also has high power demands and poor contrast compared to other standards. OLED gives you richer colors and deeper blacks, whereas LCDs can struggle with darker games, making them appear gray. And since OLEDs don't have a backlight, they could give the Quest 4 better battery life.
OLED displays have their downsides, too, from a grainy Mura effect to potential PWM issues that could make a subset of users sick. They're more likely to get burn-in over time, and they cost more to manufacture. So we'll have to wait and see what choice Meta makes for the Quest 4.
Cloud gaming
We don't necessarily want this next feature, but it's something we know from leaks that Meta is working on.
Before the Quest 3 launch, VR analyst Brad Lynch claimed that a source had told him about Project Razor, "a partnership between Meta and US-based ISP/MNOs, i.e., Verizon, AT&T, etc., to help build connectivity improvements and get the internet 'metaverse ready.'"
We also saw from Quest 3 FCC filings that Meta might have tested the current-gen headset's 5G capabilities, which makes sense given its Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chip could easily support 5G. Meta hasn't said anything about Quest 3 5G support, so we can assume Meta either has work left to do or decided not to implement it (yet).
Cloud gaming's upside is that the Meta Quest 3 or 4 could play PC VR-quality games without needing to rely on mobile hardware; this, in turn, could allow Meta to keep future Quest headsets lighter without as much robust hardware.
The worrying downside is that cloud gaming has latency issues, which could trigger nausea or frustration in VR games when your game movements don't match your own. We also don't know if Meta will charge for this service — perhaps it would be a part of Meta Quest Plus — and not every area has reliable 5G connectivity.
Varifocal or holocake lenses
We'll round out our list with something we know Meta is working on but is highly unlikely to be ready for consumer-priced VR headsets anytime soon.
At the SIGGRAPH 2023 conference, Meta showed off its Butterscotch Varifocal prototype, the "first prototype headset to achieve varifocal with a retinal resolution display of roughly 60 pixels per degree (PPD), which is sufficient for 20/20 visual acuity." For context, the ultra-expensive Vision Pro hits just 34 PPD.
Currently, VR lenses have a fixed focal point where text and objects are in the clearest focus, so developers have to plan around this. With varifocal lenses, the Quest prototype can focus electronically on objects that are close to or far away from the user in the virtual world.
If Meta can offer varifocal lenses on the Quest 4 (or another future Quest headset), it would dynamically change how game developers design the best Quest games, removing the visual restrictions that make VR text and general surroundings blurry.
This prototype only had a minuscule 50-degree field of view, less than half the Quest 3's 110º FoV, and it'd be both bulky and expensive. Still, this is the kind of thing Reality Labs is spending billions of dollars on, so we can hope the Quest 4 will iterate closer to this ideal VR tech, while keeping it affordable.
The other Meta VR prototype we saw, pictured above, is the Holocake 2. Holocake lenses are the next step after the Quest 3's pancake lenses, adding a holographic layer that removes the need for convex or concave lenses. With it, the Quest 4 could be skinnier in front than ever, offering some real weight loss to the already-comfortable Quest 3.
The Meta Quest 4 and 4S will be all about balance
As excellent as the Quest 3 is, many people kept buying the Quest 2 — or will choose the new Quest 3S — because they prefer a bargain to the best specs. The Quest 4S will likely keep up this trend; our guess is that it'll get the Quest 3's resolution boost and Quest 4's new CPU to stay relevant but retain certain downgrades like the Fresnel lens to keep the price down.
The fancier Meta Quest 4, too, might keep certain cost-cutting measures like a cloth headstrap and short battery life, since they know power users can pay to upgrade them with an Elite Strap with Battery. Instead, they'll focus on areas like eye tracking that can't be modded in later. We doubt the cameras or controllers will change much, either.
What we really want from the Meta Quest 4 is for the Reality Labs gambit to pay off. Meta has lost $50 billion on the division since it started tracking it separately in earnings reports, and we're curious to see if new technology like varifocal or holocake lenses will make their way into consumer devices anytime soon.
Until the next-gen arrives
The Meta Quest 4 is years away from a hypothetical launch, so for now, the Quest 3 is the best standalone VR option you could hope for. It has enhanced graphics and visuals, full-color mixed-reality good enough to read your phone screen with your headset on, and a more comfortable design.
Michael is Android Central's resident expert on wearables and fitness. Before joining Android Central, he freelanced for years at Techradar, Wareable, Windows Central, and Digital Trends. Channeling his love of running, he established himself as an expert on fitness watches, testing and reviewing models from Garmin, Fitbit, Samsung, Apple, COROS, Polar, Amazfit, Suunto, and more.
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Junkie XL Assuming there will even by a Quest 4. IIRC Meta operated at a loss to even deploy Quest 3 while massively scaling back VR operations to stop the financial hemorrhaging in that dept. Unless Quest 3 breaks some kind of sales record or there is some magical resurgence in VR/AR popularity, I don't see Meta wasting another X millions in developing a Q4.Reply -
Junkie XL
As massive of a flop Quest Pro was, I am 99.9% sure there will not be another one. As slim as the chances are for a Quest 4 at this point, the chances are next to nothing for a Pro 2.AC News said:Yes, the Quest 3 just came out. No, it's not too early to think about how the next Quest 4, Quest Lite, or Quest Pro can top the current-gen headset.
Meta Quest 4: Everything we want from the Quest 3 successor : Read more -
SyCoREAPER How about an ecosystem worth spending any money towards. VR 'AAA' Games are barely 'AA' Games in respect to regular games.Reply
They need to either massively lower game rates or start releasing better games. Or make a PC VR only version of the hardware itself for a lower price.
I don't see the value at its current pricing.