Meta Quest (1st gen) vs Meta Quest 2

Meta sold the original as Oculus Quest from May 2019 and billed it as its first all-in-one VR headset: no PC, no wires, no external sensors. Quest 2 kept that idea and changed almost everything inside. Today you’d buy either one second-hand, and Meta has already dated the end of the original’s software support.

The differences at a glance

Spec	Meta Quest (1st gen)	Meta Quest 2
Display	Two OLED screens	Fast-Switch LCD
Resolution per eye	1440 × 1600 (2880 × 1600 total)	1832 × 1920
Refresh rates	72 Hz for apps; 60 Hz for media apps	60, 72, 80, 90, 120 Hz (Meta’s lists vary)
Chip	Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Adreno 540 GPU	Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1
Memory	4 GB (2.75 GB for apps)	6 GB
Storage	64 GB or 128 GB	128 GB or 256 GB
Passthrough	No color view described	Grayscale, low resolution; no depth sensor
Lens spacing	IPD slider; range not published	Not published
Audio	Open-ear audio in the straps; a headphone jack on each side	Positional audio; one 3.5 mm jack
Glasses	Not published	Glasses compatible
Controllers	Oculus Touch	Redesigned Touch with a thumb rest
PC	Standalone; no PC needed	Standalone; optional Link cable for Rift games
Eye tracking	Not listed	No
Field of view, weight, battery life	Not published	Not published
Sold new by Meta	No	No

OLED against more pixels

The original has two OLED screens at 1440 × 1600 pixels per eye. Quest 2 switched to a Fast-Switch LCD with 1832 × 1920 per eye. More pixels on a different kind of panel isn’t automatically a better picture, and Meta gives no contrast figure for the original’s OLED. Still, if you like the deep blacks OLED is known for, the original is the only one of these two that has them.

The original’s lenses come from the same family as Oculus Go’s, and it has a physical IPD slider for setting the distance between the lenses, though Meta gives no range for it.

72 Hz against up to 120 Hz

The original runs apps at 72 Hz and drops to 60 Hz only for media apps; Meta’s refresh chart marks no 80, 90 or 120 Hz option for it. Quest 2 goes further, though Meta’s lists for it differ: its consumer specs give 60, 72, 80, 90 and 120 Hz, its developer table leaves out 60, and one Meta chart also lists 96 and 100 Hz. Whichever list you go by, Quest 2 can run games at faster rates than the original, as long as the game supports them.

Snapdragon 835 against XR2 Gen 1

Inside the original is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with an Adreno 540 GPU at 710 MHz. Apps get three of its four performance cores, at up to 2.3 GHz, with the fourth reserved for the system, and 2.75 GB of its 4 GB of memory. Storage came in 64 GB or 128 GB.

Quest 2 steps up to Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1, 6 GB of memory and 128 GB or 256 GB of storage. If you’re upgrading anyway, the bigger jump is to the current Quests: Meta credits Quest 3 with about 2.5 times the graphics power of Quest 2.

Audio, fit and controllers

The original plays sound through open-ear audio in its straps and has a headphone jack on each side. Quest 2 has positional audio and one 3.5 mm jack, and Meta calls it glasses compatible. The original came with Oculus Touch controllers, and Meta redesigned Quest 2’s Touch pair with a thumb rest.

Both are standalone, with inside-out tracking and no external sensors. Quest 2 adds an optional Link cable for playing Rift games from a PC, and it needs a Meta account and Meta’s smartphone app. Neither is a PS5 headset.

Meta gives neither headset a weight, battery life or field of view.

Buying either one now

Meta has stopped selling both, so you’re paying used prices for either. The original launched in May 2019 at $399 with 64 GB and $499 with 128 GB.

With headsets this old, support matters as much as specs. Meta has dated the end of new features, security fixes, new apps and app updates for the original, and it has moved those dates before; Quest 2’s feature updates are time-limited too. Before you buy, read Meta’s Quest 1 changes post, check how long Quest 2 will keep getting updates, and make sure a used headset comes with its controllers.

If you want color passthrough or a current chip, neither of these is the answer. Meta’s current headsets are Quest 3S and Quest 3, and Meta Quest 3 vs Meta Quest 3S compares them.