While the Apple Vision Pro has emerged as the Meta Quest’s most prominent rival, offering an ultra-premium alternative to the budget Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 VR headsets, there are a few other Quest alternatives out there, and based on leaks, it looks like one Quest 2 competitor, the Pico 4, is about to get a next-gen reboot.
The so-called Pico 4S (or Pico 4 Ultra, as it will apparently be called in some regions) may look similar to the sleek original (based on images shared by Android Headlines), but a leaked South Korean certification and Geekbench score in June teases some notable improvements (per UploadVR). It will reportedly pack a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, 12GB of RAM, and two new cameras on the front that should improve its mixed reality transfer quality.
Today, I also have a set of 12 high-res press renders of the upcoming #ByteDance mixed reality headset which I assume will be marketed as #PICO4S or #PICO4Ultra depending on region… 😏On behalf of @Androidheadline 👉🏻 pic.twitter.com/hOO0C87cALAugust 9, 2024
The leaked images also show that its controllers might have lost the iconic curved tracking rings, instead copying the Quest 3’s tracking ring-less design. Interestingly, the Pico 4S will also apparently get two wrist straps with removable sensors that appear to aid in hand tracking, or perhaps could be used for foot tracking, though we’ll have to wait and see.
Two important details we’re missing are price and release date. While the Pico 4S may share a suffix with Meta’s leaked Quest 3S, I’d expect it to be more expensive than both the 3S and Pico 4, coming in at around $499.99 / £479.99 / AU$799.99, given the rumoured upgraded specs. As for when we’ll get our hands on it, given the number of leaks we’ve seen, I’d expect the Pico 4S to appear either late this year or early 2025, but your guess is as good as mine until we hear more.
Forget the specs, tell me about the software
If these leaks are correct (remember, until Pico says something, we should take these unofficial details with a grain of salt), the Pico 4S could be an impressive rival to the Quest 3.
That Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset is the same one that powers the Quest 3, though with 12GB of RAM the Pico 4S would be more powerful than the Meta's headset, which only has 8GB. And while we won't know what the 4S's data transfer will be like until we test it, the Pico 4's data transfer was very strong and clear, if a little too fisheye-like, which was disorienting at times, so additional sensors would only bolster an already solid look for the Pico 4.
Unfortunately, none of that will matter if Pico doesn't pay close attention to one area: software.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best feature of Meta’s Quest headset is Horizon OS. It’s simple and has a fantastic library of VR and MR games and apps. Pico 4’s OS isn’t bad, but its software library just isn’t on par with Meta’s. Sure, it has TikTok in VR as an exclusive, but nothing else stands out – it was supposed to get Just Dance VR in 2023, but it’s now coming exclusively to Quest headsets (according to Ubisoft’s website) later this year.
Beyond the hardware and price, the Pico needs to give us a software-based reason to care (and ideally, there should be plenty of reasons). Otherwise, the Pico 4S could end up like the PlayStation VR 2: a big device that can't do anything with it.
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