If you’re a fan of VR, then you’ll likely want to know what are the Meta Quest 3 battery issues. There have been a few videos and articles on the matter, and figuring out how to solve the issue is pretty essential.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, so that’s good news if you’re sat worrying about this and searching for help. Meta has actually released a new update in the last few days that allows you to fiddle with your battery settings a little bit. You can now choose to favor battery life or graphical performance if you don’t mind taking a hit on one or the other. It’s not a complete fix, but it’s a good start, and hopefully a sign of even more reassuring patches to come.
The Meta Quest 3’s Battery Life Issues, Explained
So, let’s talk about what the issues are. In short, the Meta Quest 3 has a powerful battery, and one that’s technically more powerful than in the Quest 2. However, because the Quest 3 is also a substantial leap up in power, the battery life is actually marginally worse than in the Quest 2, which feels bad to most of the people who’ve upgraded to the new headset.
Related: How Much Is the Meta Quest 3 (& Is It Worth It?)
The bigger issue though, is that the extra power of the new battery means that a lot of the methods people used for the Quest 2 simply aren’t cutting it. Quick-swappable batteries that could allow the user to game for hours on end can’t keep up with the energy-hungry Quest 3, leaving the batteries with charge left to give, but unable to do so fast enough. It’s a problem that can’t be solved by older technology, which means that we’ll likely have to wait for new answers, which is an expensive and annoying proposition for long-term fans.
It means that the only real answer to the battery life issues at the moment are either getting a long enough cable to charge the device while you’re using it, or going for the Meta Quest 3 elite strap with battery, which will not only make the device more comfortable, but also roughly double the battery life. There’s a good chance that we’ll get more updates from Meta to help alleviate things, and third-party developers will also cook up new solutions too, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind for now.
If you’re looking for more, check out our picks for the best mixed reality games on Meta Quest 3.