Fb will not replenish Oculus Rift S inventory, will concentrate on the Oculus Quest 2

What just happened Facebook has stated that once the current inventory of Oculus Rift S headsets runs out, the company will stop replenishing them with new units, and is therefore announcing the discontinuation. Going forward, Facebook will focus on making the Oculus Quest 2 the first “mainstream” VR headset.

When Facebook launched the Lenovo-made Oculus Rift S in 2019, the VR headset was received with mixed feelings. A successor to the original Rift from 2016, the Rift S improved in some areas and was even worse in some others. For example, the Rift S offers an overall higher screen resolution (2560 x 1440p versus 2160 x 1200p), but at the expense of a lower refresh rate (80 Hz versus 90 Hz).

Despite its shortcomings, the Oculus Rift S cut the price of VR games at $ 399 MSRP at launch. But now that the generally superior Oculus Quest 2 can be purchased for $ 299 (64GB model), there’s no reason not to buy this one.

During Facebook’s third quarter 2020 earnings call, the company announced that the Quest 2 VR headset had received five times more pre-orders than the original Oculus Quest.

“Rift S is currently still available for sale on some channels around the world. However, as we announced last year, we plan to end Rift S sales in 2021,” said a Facebook representative. “In general, channels that are out of stock will not be replenished in the future.”

At the time of writing, there is still stock of the Oculus Rift S in the official store and some retailers such as Walmart and Micro Center. Microsoft, Lenovo and Amazon, on the other hand, no longer run it.

Among the current VR headsets there is of course the Oculus Quest 2, but there are other alternatives such as the high-end valve index. Sony is also known for developing a successor to the PlayStation VR and the rumored Apple VR headset.