We recently reported that the Oculus Quest 2 had an upcoming display upgrade in the works that would push the refresh rates up to 90Hz and soon after to 120Hz. And the long-awaited update would possibly be dropping by the end of this March.
The update gods being fickle as they often are, we're now hearing that the 120Hz refresh rate update will not be available until Q2 of 2021. This is according to a release from Facebook on the Oculus Platform Roadmap, which is only available to individuals with a developer's account.
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Confidence is low of even getting the update in Q2 as the Oculus team stated that "delivering a 120Hz refresh rate in mobile VR experiences is very challenging," and as we reported previously, one of the main concerns being the 120Hz effect on battery life.
Just last week, Facebook’s John Carmack noted that “only a few” existing games could add the feature, which will first arrive as an experimental item." Although the move to 90Hz is still happening and will make the VR experience smoother and more realistic, 120Hz would make the user's experience to an entirely different level.
The hardware demands and battery life drain that 120Hz support must be addressed before releasing such an advancement. However, 90Hz of refresh rate is considered the balancing point for best visual performance and hardware optimization.
Obtaining 120Hz performance is hard for some current gaming computers to manage. Even Sony's PSVR headset can only output it by using reprojection for games that are truly running at 60Hz.
