Recently, just after its official first tease, Bytedance-owned XR headset leader Pico faced leaks regarding its upcoming, still officially under wraps, headset.
Rumours of a new Pico headset have swirled for a while now. However, forecasts appeared dimmer more recently due to layoffs and other hurdles that Pico faced.
However, the firm recently teased a new headset on its official social media channels, proving the Chinese firm is still a competitive horse in the XR device marketplace. The timing aligns with other big hardware announcements from HTC VIVE and Meta.
Most recently, though, it appears that details regarding the headset have leaked to the public ahead of the official August 20th announcement.
Discovered by Android Headlines, the upcoming headset is the Pico 4S a mixed-reality device seen via a series of promotional images. The device appears lightweight in frame and similar to a Vision Pro in style with outward-facing cameras, supporting the passthrough MR features.
Notably, the images suggest support for two input methods. First, the Pico 4s device looks to come with controllers for conventional XR navigation. Second, the promo images showcase a wristband-style controller that suggests hand tracking and gesture control. Other details outlined in the Pico 4s leak include Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset integration and 12GB of RAM.
Pico Teases New Device Following Operational Hurdles
Pico has hinted at a new device announcement on August 20th at 14:00 China Standard Time. The company posted a mysterious image on its social media platforms with the quote, “Reality, amplified.” No further details have been provided. The announcement date is strategically set before Meta Connect 2024 and comes shortly after HTC VIVE’s teaser video for a ‘game-changing’ headset.
Last year, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok and Pico, reportedly scrapped plans for a new VR headset. The decision not to release the Pico 5 headset came following the disappointing sales performance of the Pico 4.
Following layoffs and restructuring in 2023, ByteDance has significantly reduced its workforce from 1800 to 800 employees, marking a 60 percent reduction. Initial plans to reduce the workforce by 20 to 30 percent by 2023 were surpassed, with a much higher reduction.
