Another day and another electronics price hike, due to the AI feeding frenzy on chips. The next hike is for your virtual reality heads from Meta. The company said on Thursday it is hiking the price of its Quest 3 and Quest 3S VR headsets starting April 19, 2026. Meta blames the move on the rising costs of building high performance hardware, specifically pointing to a global spike in the price of memory chips that has slapped the entire electronics industry.
The price increases affect the entire current lineup as well as refurbished units, though Meta says accessories will keep their current pricing for now.
| Model | Old Price | New Price | Price Hike | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quest 3S (128GB) | $399.99 | $479.99 | +$80.00 | 20% |
| Quest 3S (256GB) | $549.99 | $629.99 | +$80.00 | 15% |
| Quest 3 (512GB) | $679.99 | $829.99 | +$150.00 | 21% |
In Canada, the entry level Quest 3S with 128GB of storage will jump to $479.99, up from its previous $399.99 price point, a 20% increase. The 256GB model is moving to $629.99, up from $549.99.
The more powerful Quest 3 with 512GB of storage is seeing the steepest hike. After Meta dropped the price of this specific model to $679.99 in September 2024, it will now climb back up to $829.99, a 21% jump. While this is slightly lower than its original launch price of $849.99, it represents a significant $150 increase in Canada. It doesn’t help us that foreign exchange rates are not in our favour.
Right now, retailers such as Amazon.ca still have original pricing on these Quest 3 headsets, so get them while you can.
Meta claims the price adjustment is necessary to keep its VR roadmap on track as it prepares to launch several new games later this month, including Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City. However, the reality for consumers is that the era of aggressive subsidies for Quest hardware appears to be cooling off as component costs bite back.
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