We are bound to expect that the price of technology products will decrease over time thanks to the continuous advancement of technology and more efficient manufacturing processes. But here, the same product you could buy in September 2020 will cost 33 percent more in August 2022. The official reason Meta is raising prices is that “the cost of manufacturing and shipping our products has increased,” according to a company blog post credited only to the “Oculus Blog.” “By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to increase our investment in groundbreaking research and new product development that propels the VR industry to new heights.” Usually, if a product costs more than before, it comes with something new The prices of many things we cover here at The Verge have gone up in recent months, including old Lego sets, your Netflix subscription, and even Teslas. Usually, though, if a product costs more than before, it comes with something new. Apple’s latest MacBook Air is $200 more than the older model, but it has a new design, a bigger screen, a faster processor and a better webcam. In fact, you get more for more than your money. The Quest 2 you buy in August is not that. It’s the exact same product – same screens, same processor, same design – that you could buy when it launched. (Meta gave the base Quest 2 a storage boost in July 2021, but didn’t increase the price at the time.) The closest comparison to the Quest 2’s price jump is perhaps when Sonos raised the price of its Arc soundbar in September, also by $100. In my opinion, though, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The Arc is a premium speaker that was already expensive when it launched (it started at $799), while the Quest 2 was designed from the ground up to be a more affordable entry into VR hardware, especially since it’s a standalone headset that doesn’t no computer required. Valve’s Index, by contrast, costs $999 and must be connected to a computer to work. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales/The Verge One possible explanation for Quest 2’s new price is rising inflation. A lot of things are more expensive right now, and Meta’s blog post alludes to that. (Meta’s head of VR was also open about the cost hike on Twitter.) But the higher price could also help the company as it tightens its belt across the board. Meta’s Reality Labs business, which houses its VR hardware, is currently shedding money. Last quarter, Meta reported a loss of nearly $3 billion for Reality Labs (pdf) — so losses from Quest 2 could be one way Meta is trying to shore things up. And Meta doesn’t have the production scale of established major hardware makers like Apple, so the economies of scale that typically apply over the life of a product may not have as much of an impact on its bottom line. The Quest 2 price hike also comes at an odd time, as we feel like we’re on the precipice of a big shift in VR hardware. Sony has been trickling out information about its PSVR2 hardware all year, though the company has yet to announce when the headset will be released or how much it will cost. Apple is heavily rumored to be launching a high-end mixed reality headset that could launch in January. And Meta has openly discussed its own high-end headphones, codenamed Project Cambria, due out later this year — a fact the company mentioned in a blog post on Tuesday. But with Tuesday’s announcement, it’s clear that Meta doesn’t want Quest 2 to be as damage-heavy as it has been, even if the price increase is just to limit losses and not really introduce profit margin. The price change takes effect on August 1st, and if you want to pick one up before the cost goes up, here’s where to go.
