Meta Platforms Inc is boosting the prices of its virtual reality headsets because of rising memory chip costs, adding to an industrywide wave of recent increases.
The company said Thursday that it’s hiking the price of its entry-level Quest 3S headset by US$50 (RM197.90) and its higher-end Quest 3 model by US$100 (RM395.40). The Quest 3S will now cost US$350 (RM1,385) for a model with 128 gigabytes of space and US$450 (RM1,779.30) for a version with 256 gigabytes. The Quest 3 will now be US$600 (RM2,379).
Like its tech peers, Meta is grappling with growing memory expenses and supply chain shortages stemming from the artificial intelligence boom. Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp have both increased the prices of laptops, while Samsung Electronics Co has upped the cost of some phones. Other headset makers, meanwhile, have upped prices or suffered product delays.
The social networking giant, which renamed itself to tout the metaverse and virtual reality in 2021, said that prices for refurbished models will also go up. A spokesperson said the cost of its smart glasses isn’t changing at this time.
"We’re making this change because the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly,” the company said in a statement. "To keep delivering the quality of hardware, software and support you expect from the Quest platform, we need to adjust our pricing.”
The Quest changes take effect on April 19. In addition to the US increases, prices are going up in the UK, Europe and Japan.
Meta’s smart glasses have been outpacing enclosed headsets in popularity. But the company said that it "remains committed” to VR devices and believes the category is still the "future of computing.”
"This adjustment helps us stay on track to deliver that future,” Meta said.
Still, some of the company’s recent moves signal that VR has become a lower priority. Meta laid off a chunk of its hardware division responsible for headsets and discontinued a key metaverse product called Horizon Worlds for people to meet up virtually. It has also shuttered work on a number of VR games.
Meta’s Quest isn’t the first VR headset or gaming device to be hit by the memory shortages. Valve’s latest products have been delayed by the supply crunch, and the price of the Pico 4 Ultra headset is increasing in Japan in May. Sony Group Corp has also hiked prices of its home consoles.
For its part, Apple hasn’t changed the price of its headset, the Vision Pro. But that device costs US$3,499 (RM13,849), giving the company little leeway to charge more. – Bloomberg
