You’ll want to act quickly if you’ve been eying a Meta VR headset, as the company is raising prices for its entire Quest lineup on April 19. The entry-level Meta Quest 3S with 128GB of storage will climb from its current $300 to $350, while the 256GB version will jump from $400 to $450. The steepest increase affects the flagship Quest 3, which will surge from $500 to $600 for its lone 512GB variant.
The price increases will also affect refurbished units and other countries. Accessory prices aren’t changing.
Storage
128 or 256GB
Resolution
1832 x 1920 pixels per eye
Meta blames the rising costs of “critical components” in consumer electronics for the price hike, particularly memory chips. The increases are necessary to provide the “quality of hardware, software, and support” customers expect, Meta claims. The 512GB Quest 3 still costs $50 less than it did on launch,
The company adds that it’s still “committed to investing in VR” as it believes the technology represents the “future of computing.” The higher prices will help support the long product roadmap, Meta argues.
Microsoft, Sony, and PC makers have also raised prices
Meta is far from alone. Digital device makers are facing a “RAM-pocalypse” as the rush to buy memory for AI data centers leads to both chronic shortages and manufacturers shifting away from consumer-grade memory. Micron is shutting down Crucial this year as it does more to court large AI-focused companies.
The hikes have been most noticeable among PCs, where computers and RAM upgrade kits frequently cost hundreds of dollars more than they did last year. Microsoft recently raised prices on the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro by roughly $500 versus their 2024 launch stickers, and is partly compensating for costlier PCs with a college bundle that provides both a custom Xbox controller and year-long subscriptions to Microsoft 365 and Xbox Game Pass when students buy certain Windows PCs.
Console makers have also been affected. Microsoft has hiked Xbox prices multiple times, with Sony following suit for thePlayStation 5 lineup. Nintendo isn’t charging more for the Switch 2 as of this writing, although its $450 price is considerably steeper than for the outgoing original.
There are signs that RAM prices are dropping. The decreases aren’t usually dramatic, however, and may vary depending on the device. The Meta Quest 3 and 3S are closer to phones than PCs, aas they use VR-oriented Snadpragon chips and the memory to match. You can’t count on Meta lowering prices any time soon, even if costs for other products settle down.
