Meta has announced an increase in the prices of its virtual reality headsets, the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, due to the escalating costs of memory chips. Effective April 19, the Meta Quest 3S (128GB) and (256GB) will see price hikes of $50, bringing their new prices to $349.99 and $449.99, respectively. Meanwhile, the price of the Meta Quest 3 will rise by $100, now costing $599.99.
In a recent blog post, Meta explained, "We're making this change because the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly. The global surge in the price of critical components -- specifically memory chips -- is impacting almost every category of consumer electronics, including VR. To continue delivering the quality of hardware, software, and support you expect from the Quest platform, we need to adjust our pricing."
The updated pricing will also extend to refurbished units of the Meta Quest, although the prices for all Meta Quest accessories will remain unchanged.
Meta is not alone in this trend; the company joins other tech giants like Samsung, Microsoft, and Sony, all of whom have raised hardware prices in response to the ongoing RAM shortage affecting the industry.