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Meta blames RAM shortage for $100 Quest 3 price hike

2026-04-15T18:19:21-04:00

Meta is the next tech company to hike up hardware prices due to the global memory shortage.

Beginning April 19th, Meta's 128GB Quest 3S VR headset will cost $349.99, the 256GB Quest 3S will cost $449.99, and the Quest 3 will cost $599.99. Those are increases of $50 for both Quest 3S models and $100 for the Quest 3.

Refurbished units will be getting a price hike, too. The refurbished 128GB and 256GB Quest 3S models are similarly getting a $50 bump to $319.99 and $409.99, while a refurbished Quest 3 will cost $549.99, a $170 increase. Accessories will keep their current prices.

"We're making this change because the cost of building high-p …

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You can now turn 2D apps into 3D while using the Galaxy XR headset

2026-04-07T15:07:12-04:00

Android XR is getting a new feature that turns 2D apps, websites, images, and videos into "3D experiences." The feature, which Google calls "auto-spatialization," was initially announced last year, and it's launching on Tuesday as an experimental feature for Samsung Galaxy XR headsets.

Here's a video from Google that gives you an idea about how auto-spatialization might look in practice:

There are a few caveats to auto-spatialization: it supports content up to 1080p or lower at 30fps, it "uses slightly more battery power," and it only works "on the app window currently in focus," Google says. But if you have a Galaxy XR device, it could be …

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The man who coined Metaverse now says Meta’s glasses are creepy

2026-03-24T16:09:23-04:00

Neal Stephenson speaks onstage during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 16, 2022 in Austin, Texas. | Getty Images for SXSW

Neal Stephenson didn't invent the virtual reality headset. But Meta certainly knows his name - in 1992, his seminal cyberpunk novel Snow Crash coined the phrase "Metaverse" to describe a virtual reality world experienced through VR goggles. It inspired many key VR developers - and in 2021, Facebook decided to rename its entire company to Meta to chase that metaverse dream.

Now, Stephenson says he no longer believes face-worn computing is the future. He thinks Meta's glasses are creepy: "People don't like wearing things on their faces and don't trust those who do." He thinks goggles are no longer the future in a world in a world filled with …

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Lina Khan was right

2026-04-12T12:07:43-04:00

Hindsight is 20/20. | Image: The Verge / Getty Images

In 2021, the virtual world was the future of the internet. The pandemic had sequestered everyone indoors, heightening the appeal of digital communities. Facebook rebranded to Meta - a sign of the tech giant's investment in and commitment to the metaverse as the future of the internet. Despite losing billions in VR, Meta released an upgraded version of the Quest 2 headset and began focusing on launching a higher-end Quest Pro. At the end of the year, it announced its plan to plunk down a rumored $400 million to buy the independent VR gaming studio Within, maker of a popular fitness game called Supernatural. Less than five years later, however …

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Meta’s VR metaverse is ditching VR

2026-02-19T15:47:54-05:00

Horizon Central, the town square of Meta's metaverse, already runs on the new Meta Horizon game engine. | Image: Horizon Central

Meta, after laying off about 10 percent of its Reality Labs division, closing three VR studios, stopping new content for VR fitness app Supernatural, and discontinuing its metaverse for work, is announcing a major change for its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform. Instead of attempting to make the 3D social platform work for both VR and mobile, Meta is "explicitly separating" its "Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform" and "shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile," Samantha Ryan, Reality Labs' VP of content, says in a blog post.

The new approach sets Meta up to better compete with platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, …

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YouTube is coming to the Apple Vision Pro

2026-03-01T11:48:05-05:00

The Apple Vision Pro is finally getting an official visionOS YouTube app on Thursday. With the visionOS YouTube app, you'll be able to watch all videos available on YouTube, including standard videos, Shorts, 3D, 360, and VR180 videos, Apple spokesperson Corey Nord tells The Verge.

The Vision Pro launched more than two years ago, but it hasn't had an official YouTube app until now. Ahead of the release of the Vision Pro, YouTube said that it wasn't planning to build a native app for the platform. But a few days after the headset hit store shelves, YouTube changed course and said that a Vision Pro app was "on our roadmap." That was in early …

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The tragedy of Supernatural

2026-02-25T12:11:09-05:00

When you picture a virtual reality headset user, you're probably not picturing someone like Sherry Dickson. At 69, the snowy-haired, retired elementary school teacher hops into her Meta Quest headset five days a week, for roughly 60 to 90 minutes at a time. She's not attending live concerts or watching immersive films. Dickson, a fitness buff since Jane Fonda workout videos in the '80s, largely uses her headset for one reason - to play Supernatural, a VR fitness game with a huge, loyal fan base and a tight-knit community.

Supernatural isn't dead, but it might as well be. A few weeks ago, Meta shut down three VR studios as part of broader l …

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Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too

2026-01-16T05:33:58-05:00

Two months before it changed its name to "Meta," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally introduced us to his metaverse for work: Horizon Workrooms, envisioned as a virtual space for workers to collaborate. Today, the company announced it's shutting that space down: "Meta has made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app, effective February 16, 2026," reads the note tucked away on a help page.

Meta will also no longer sell its headsets and software as a service for businesses, another help page reads: "We are stopping sales of Meta Horizon managed services and commercial SKUs of Meta Quest, effective February 20, 2026."

Me …

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Meta is closing down three VR studios as part of its metaverse cuts

2026-01-16T20:05:17-05:00

Marvel’s Deadpool VR.

Meta is laying off about 10 percent of its Reality Labs metaverse division, and the cuts include closing down some of its VR gaming studios.

Twisted Pixel Games, the developer of Marvel's Deadpool VR, Sanzaru Games, the developer of the Asgard's Wrath franchise, and Armature Studio, which worked on the Resident Evil 4 VR port, are all being closed down, according to an internal memo viewed by Bloomberg. The team behind the VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer develop new content or features for it, though the "existing product" will still be supported, Bloomberg says. Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed to The Verge that Bloombe …

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Meta plans to lay off hundreds of metaverse employees this week

2026-01-12T17:14:58-05:00

Meta's Reality Labs team is expected to lose around 10 percent of its staff, with layoffs concentrated on the division's metaverse employees, as reported by The New York Times. The layoffs are apparently a side effect of Meta's AI ambitions, which are pulling focus away from its virtual reality division.

According to the Times, Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, called a meeting for Wednesday that he "urged staff to attend in person," saying it will be the "most important" meeting of the year. Bosworth oversees the Reality Labs division, which employs about 15,000 people. Unfortunately, layoffs to Meta's VR team may not come …

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