According to comments from the Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs, Oculus Quest 2 is likely to be updated with a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
During a Q&A session on Instagram, Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth replied with a literal thumbs up when asked if Quest 2 would see an update to 120Hz and touched on a number of other VR-related topics.
The faster the refresh rate in a VR headset, the smoother the virtual world it creates. 120 Hz means a dramatic improvement in the 72 Hz refresh rate that Quest 2 originally launched at (before it was updated with support for 90 Hz in November 2020).
Technically, the Quest 2 can already achieve (or scale up to) a refresh rate of 120 Hz, but the applications themselves have to be run at 120 FPS – which is a major challenge for a mobile chipset. Performance and battery life issues also occur when the headset is operated at 120 Hz.
Now, however, it seems possible that developers can create software for a device that operates natively at 120 Hz. We suspect that Facebook is making it optional for developers to choose between 72 Hz, 90 Hz, and 120 Hz depending on the needs of their application, they can expect improved gaming performance on the Quest 2 in the near future.
As with 90 Hz support, the company would likely introduce 120 Hz support for Quest 2 through a software update, although no word is known about a release date.
Look to the future
The proposal to bump the Quest 2 to a refresh rate of 120Hz is good news for fans looking to the Oculus Quest 3.
We assumed the 90Hz refresh rate upgrade the Quest 2 received in November 2020 would be the last, and we didn’t expect a new device to increase significantly (if at all) as most VR titles are still not available This higher refresh rate is not yet supported.
If Quest 2 receives native 120 Hz support, it can be assumed that a Quest 3 will start with this feature.
While the Quest 3 is still a long way off (we assume it’s 2022), we expect dramatically improved gaming performance on the Quest 2 in the near future – which can only help bring VR gaming further into the mainstream.
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