Oculus Quest 2 Leaks Point To A Truly Next-gen VR Experience
Oculus Quest 2 rumours simply will not die down. Despite no official word from Oculus, it seems each week there’s yet more speculation about Oculus releasing an update about their refresh of the popular Quest standalone headset. We’ve seen supposed renders of what the product will look like and some questionable rumours about what sorts of upgrades are on the cards. These range from a slight decrease in size and increase in specs, to features that seem implausible with current technology. Now a new leak, which plenty of people are taking seriously it seems, point to a product that’s closer to the implausible side of things, but first let’s talk about why so many people are sure that a Quest 2 is incoming.
Goodbye Oculus Guest & Go
There are a few reasons why a Quest 2 seems imminent. To be clear, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Oculus will replace the Quest with a successor at some point. It’s proven to be an incredibly popular headset and now competes with their own tethered products thanks to Oculus Link. It’s why we think it’s probably the most versatile headset on the market and the one we’d recommend to most people.
So the question isn’t whether a Quest 2 is actually coming, but whether it’s coming soon. The first rumbles probably started when Oculus suddenly announced that production, sales and support of the Oculus Go would end. Predictably a lot of people were not happy to hear their rather recent VR purchase was end-of-life. Oculus was clear however that they didn’t see a future for 3DoF headsets. The problem is that the Quest is much more expensive than the Go. Which fuelled speculation that a 6DoF headset with a price closer to that of the Go might be on the horizon.
The second major fan to the flames of rumour is the persistent lack of Quest stock. Surely the pandemic had a significant effect on people’s desire to get into VR, but rumours about scaled down or even shut down production of the current Quest are being attached to these stock shortages. If Oculus was getting ready for a new 6DoF headset at a price that falls between the Go and Quest, with better specs than the Quest, this would make sense.
What Was Wrong With The First Quest?
Nothing really. Despite having a lower refresh rate and mediocre field of view, the current Quest is a pretty decent premium VR headset. Unless you swapped it out back-to-back with something like a Vive of the latest Rift, you’d be hard-pressed to really put your finger on the differences. Most of the issues with the Quest are basically the issues with all contemporary VR. Mostly how the visual resolution, sharpness and field of view could stand to be better.
There are however two big areas where the Quest really does need some help. The first is in its core hardware. Even at launch, the Snapdragon 835 chipset was a flagship SoC from yesteryear. A more modern chipset would do a heck of a lot for standalone VR performance. The other area is comfort. We can attest to the fact that the Quest is not the most comfortable headset. Something we had to address using aftermarket padding and face cushions.
Rumoured Quest 2 Specifications
This leak looks pretty official, since the information was found on an official FaceBook site which has now been removed. Not, however, before these videos were scraped from the site.
They look pretty official to us! Going by what’s said here, these are the key takeaways for the Quest 2:
- A Snapdragon XR2 chipset
- 6GB of RAM
- More comfortable headset and controller
- 2K per-eye resolution
- Up to 256GB of storage
- Oculus Link is still supported
There’s no price here, which is still something that’s an important issue. Expectations are for this new headset to be sold for less than the Quest. Replacing both of the older standalone headsets. If it’s priced competitively, expect them to fly off the shelves.
Should You Wait For The New Quest?
If you were thinking about buying a Quest, we strongly recommend waiting for this new one. With the leak, we don’t imagine an official announcement and release data are too far off. Even if you still want the current model, prices on the used market should be very reasonable once the Quest 2 launched.
Is It Worth The Upgrade?
That’s a harder question to answer. Based on what we know about the Quest 2 so far, it looks like it will be a worthy upgrade for standalone VR. However, if you mainly use Oculus Link or don’t mind the current look and feel of Quest Apps, it doesn’t seem like you have any reason to be hasty!
A Pinch Of Salt?
We have no reason to doubt that the leaked videos and the information in the is real. However, until FaceBook and Oculus make an official announcement, any of these details can change! Apart from that, it’s always wise to wait for a review from independent sources to verify any claims made about the product. For now we can say that the Quest 2 is almost certainly real. It’s quite likely being released this year and it will probably be the best-selling VR headset to date.
