Meta has taken the adage 'if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it' all the way to its logical conclusion. iFixit found that the Meta Quest 3S was largely the same as the Quest 2.

When a new version is announced, it's common to expect that it will have many more features and specs than previous versions. It's tempting to think that the relentless march of technology will have rendered all parts from the previous model obsolete.

It's true that the old saying "if it's not broken, don't repair it" is true. iFixit has revealed some surprises in its breakdown of the Meta Quest 3S. It uses many of the same parts that were used on the Meta Quest 2!

Many expected the Quest 3S to be a budget-friendly version of the Quest 3. However, Meta has instead co-opted a bunch (perfectly decent!) of components from the Meta Quest 2 -- in combination with a dash or two of the improvements made by the Quest 3 -- to make a VR head-set that sits between the two.

The Quest 3S will have Fresnel units instead of the fancy "pancakes" found in the Quest 3 and they are exactly the same as the Quest 2's. The parts are interchangeable, and I do mean exactly. The screen is behind that, and it's the same RGB stripe panel as the Quest 2!

It's almost the same. iFixit examined the Quest 2 LCD panel and the Quest 3S LCD panel under a microscope and found that their pixel layouts were slightly different. It's likely that the differences are due to differences in suppliers, but they should be interchangeable because they share the same connector type and size.

Meta has not forgotten its mistakes from the Quest 2, but it isn't true that Meta didn't learn from them. The newer model does not have the proximity sensor in the headset because it could short circuit if it was exposed to moisture. Meta has changed the battery housing and connector as a result. Instead, Meta has implemented an auto-shutoff timer to power down the headset when not in use.

The Quest 3S has some more powerful internal components than the Quest 2. This makes it a better upgrade, at least in theory. The new model uses the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 Soc, which has 8 GB RAM. This is compared to the Quest 2 Gen 1 chip, which had 6 GB RAM. It also features an upgrade in wireless ICs, with WiFi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2.

Overall, it seems like a refreshingly simple approach to creating budget-friendly hardware for a newer generation. We gave the OG Quest 2 a 90 percent score in our original review. We praised its improved graphics and excellent resolution. So, the decision to use similar lenses and screens in the Quest 3S, with more capable hardware, isn't terrible.

If you add a faster processor and a little more RAM to the headset, it will not set the VR world ablaze, but could be a contender to replace the Meta Quest 2 for our best budget VR headset. Plus, is it repairable? The ability to swap out some older, easily accessible components is a big win for both models' long-term serviceability.

The Meta Quest 3 is the best VR headset overall. The 128 GB model is $500, so the Meta Quest 3S at $299 looks like a good option to get the best of both worlds.