Price increases are easier to hide when a product is brand new. When something like the Meta Quest 3 (or Microsoft’s Surface range) goes up in price, it’s obvious that something’s troubling the tech industry. Everyone knows what that something is, of course.
Correct. The problem is Sam Altman (and other people like him). The RAM shortage is whalloping everyone, including the world’s largest social media company. Starting today, the Meta Quest 3 and its S variants will become more expensive.
Meta Quest 3: The Search for More Money
And not by a little bit. The Quest 3S is going up by a solid R800, which applies to each available model. The more capable 3 will double that, going up by R1,650 across the board. Meta is even jacking prices up on refurbished units while blaming the RAM shortage (that the company is helping to cause).
Meta says that it is “making this change because the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly.” It continues: “The global surge in the price of critical components — specifically memory chips — is impacting almost every category of consumer electronics, including VR. To keep delivering the quality of hardware, software, and support you expect from the Quest platform, we need to adjust our pricing.”
Or you could just mosey on over to one of those data centres and nick a few of the RAM chips you’re storing for AI reasons, Zuckerbot. Nobody will miss ’em.
Pricing kicks in from today, but they seem confined (for now) to Meta’s international direct sales. As with the Microsoft Surface, these jumps probably won’t land in South Africa until companies have to refresh their stock at the higher price point.
