The Meta Quest 2 is sold out everywhere – paving the way for the Meta Quest 3S

If you’ve waited until July 2024 to buy a Meta Quest 2 – nearly four years after its launch under the Oculus Quest 2 name – then you might be about to miss your chance, as the official Meta.com store is out of stock. However, it’s likely yet another sign that the Meta Quest 3S is ready to launch soon.

If you live in the US or Australia (or some of the other countries we checked, including Canada, France, and South Korea) instead of a blue “Add to bag” icon under the wildly popular Quest 2 VR headset, you’ll see a gray “Out of stock” notification instead. At the time of publishing it is still available in the UK, but only the cheapest £199.99 128GB Quest 2 can be bought – the pricier 256GB model is unavailable.

Even at third-party stores such as Amazon and Walmart most of the Quest 2s being sold appear to be from non-official resellers – at inflated, non RRP prices – suggesting stock is running dry everywhere. Again, a few bastions remain in select regions (such as the UK) but soon you won’t be able to buy a new Meta Quest 2 anywhere.

This is hardly the most shocking twist. The Meta Quest 3 is nearly a year old, and with Quest 3-exclusive software set to launch soon such as Batman: Arkham Shadow it’s not a surprise that Meta would want to phase out the older model so people instead buy the new headset.

Batman standing in the dark alone in Arkham Shadow

Is the Quest 3S looming in the shadows like Batman? (Image credit: Meta / Camouflaj)

However, the price gap between the new and older Meta Quest headsets is significant – a fact that makes VR less accessible now that the Quest 2 is going away.

Even ignoring the Meta Quest 2’s recent (phenomenally low) $ 199.99 / £199.99 / AU$ 359.99 price, its launch price of $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 is roughly 40% less than the Meta Quest 3’s official $ 499 / £479 / AU$ 799 price. While we think the Quest 3 is great value for money and worth that higher cost – we gave it five-stars in our review – $ 499 / £479 / AU$ 799 isn’t as budget-friendly a price as its predecessor.

That’s where a Meta Quest 3S comes in. 

This Meta headset – twice leaked by Meta itself – will be more affordable than the Quest 3 with specs and a design that blend the new model with the Quest 2; so expect a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, dual 1,832 x 1,920 pixel per eye displays, and a bulky body at a cheaper price of hopefully $ 399 / £399 / AU$ 639 or less – though nothing has been officially confirmed.

With Meta Connect 2024 landing on September 25 and 26, we’re hoping we’ll hear something about the Meta Quest 3S there – which all signs point to. So if you’re looking to buy your first VR headset, a Quest gadget is the way to go. But even with cheap Quest 2 stock dwindling, we still think the best course of action is to wait for the Quest 3S to be announced. We shouldn’t be waiting for much longer.

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Google Assistant ends Notes support for third parties, paving the way for other AIs

Google giveth and taketh away as the tech giant will roll back Google Assistant’s Note & List integration for third-party apps on June 20. 

This means that moving forward it will no longer be possible to create or edit notes or lists via Assistant voice commands outside of first-party software like Google Keep. People first caught wind of this update from affected third parties like AnyList which sent a notice to its users informing them of the changes. The developers understand “the loss of this feature [will be] frustrating” for many and they’re currently communicating with Google to get everything straightened out. They hope one day their app will regain Google Assistant support. However, at the time of this writing, AnyList had nothing more to share.

Amazon Alexa and Siri will still support third-party integration so you do have some options available (Be sure to check out our smart speaker guide if you plan on making the jump).

As you can probably easily imagine, people aren’t happy. A thread on the Google Home Subreddit, for example, is filled to the brim with people frustrated at the sudden shutdown. Online reports pointed out it is still possible to export old notes from third-party apps via Google Takeout. We highly recommend exporting your files now before it’s too late. 

Analysis: the diminishing Google Assistant?

As jarring as the news may be, it isn’t coming out of nowhere as the company has been making a lot of disruptive changes to Google Assistant. Back in June 2022, the company announced it would be ending Assistant’s Conversational Actions for third-party developers on June 13, 2023. And more recently, Google “ended software support for third-party smart displays from Lenovo, JBL, [as well as] LG”, effectively killing off that part of its business. But the question is why?

It could be because Google is shifting its focus away from Assistant towards generative AI. The company did recently open the doors of its Search Generative Experience to testers, but it’s hard to say with total certainty. 2023 has certainly been a weird year for Assistant. 2022 saw the AI get some sizable updates like Quick Phrases, but this year, Google saw fit to shut down crucial support in key areas.

We reached out to Google to see if it would like to make a statement about the sudden shutdown of the Notes & List support. Hopefully, the company can shed some light on the matter. This story will be updated at a later time. If the current course continues, we may see a new Assistant headstone in the Google Graveyard before long.  

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