Meta is hiking prices on its Quest 3 and Quest 3S VR headsets by $50 to $100 (12-20%) starting April 19 due to a global surge in memory chip prices, exacerbated by massive AI infrastructure investments including its own. New prices: Quest 3S (128GB) $350, (256GB) $450; Quest 3 (512GB) $600. Refurbished units will also increase, but accessories remain unchanged.
Meta announced the price increases in a blog post, affecting its Quest 3 premium mixed-reality model and budget Quest 3S, both praised for upgrades over the Quest 2 including better color cameras. The Quest 3 (512GB) rises $100 from $500 to $600; Quest 3S models go from $300/$400 to $350/$450 for 128GB/256GB variants. The company cited supply constraints from soaring RAM costs, up 80-90% in Q1 per Counterpoint Research, with shortages potentially lasting until 2028.
Demand stems from industry-wide AI buildouts projected at $630 billion in 2026 for data centers hungry for RAM and GPUs. Meta is contributing to the pressure with $115-135 billion in 2026 capital expenditures (up from $72 billion in 2025), including $21 billion more for CoreWeave and $10 billion for an El Paso data center. Meanwhile, Meta's Reality Labs VR/metaverse division has accumulated $73 billion in losses and faces up to 30% cuts as priorities shift to AI.
Other tech companies are responding similarly: Microsoft on Surface devices and Samsung on select Galaxy models. Meta declined comment on potential price changes for games or store products.
