Meta is raising prices for its Quest 3 and Quest 3S virtual reality (VR) headsets as memory chip prices surge.

TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that Meta will raise prices for the Quest 3S 128GB and 256GB to $349.99 and $449.99 from April 19, and adjust the Quest 3 price to $599.99.

The increases are $50 for each of the two Quest 3S models and $100 for Quest 3. The price adjustment applies not only to new products but also to refurbished units sold by Meta. Prices for Quest-related accessories will remain unchanged.

Meta directly cited rising component costs as the reason for the move. In a blog post, it said, "The cost of making high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly," explaining the price increase. It also said, "A worldwide surge in prices for memory chips, a key component, is affecting nearly all categories of consumer electronics, including VR."

The reason for the increase is closer to supply chain cost pressure than a simple shift in sales strategy. Meta said, "Price adjustments were necessary to maintain the quality of hardware, software and support we have provided on the Quest platform," and "We need to adjust prices to continue delivering the quality users expect from the Quest platform."

The move is not an exceptional one limited to the VR device market. More technology companies have recently raised hardware prices in response to RAM shortages. Meta has become the latest example of reflecting the burden of memory supply and demand in consumer pricing, following Samsung Electronics, Microsoft and Sony.

The move again showed how quickly component price fluctuations can be passed through to finished product prices in the VR device market. Meta kept accessory prices unchanged, but broadly adjusted prices for its core devices. Against this backdrop, memory supply and demand and component unit costs are increasingly likely to directly affect product price competitiveness in the VR hardware market.