Pico is Developing Slim and Lightweight Mixed Reality ‘Goggles’ to Compete with Next-Gen Meta Headset

Alright, so here’s the scoop on this new headset rumor. You know Pico, right? They’re under the wing of ByteDance—the same people behind TikTok or whatever. Anyways, word on the street is they’re cooking up something to go head-to-head with Meta’s fancy new XR gizmo.

So, there’s this gadget named ‘Swan’ in the works. Don’t ask me about the name—doesn’t scream tech, does it? These ‘goggles’ (or whatever you want to call them) are supposed to be feather-light, like one hundred grams. Seriously, that’s like the weight of a small apple. Or maybe not. I just made that up.

And there’s this techy bit: I heard from some folks in the know (three people, if you must know) that this Swan thingy is using a different trick. It shoves most of the processing stuff over to some puck you carry around. Yeah, you read that right. So the glasses don’t need to be all bulky like those other monsters—looking at you, Quest 3.

Meanwhile, there’s this awkward pause while we imagine those glasses dangling. Okay, moving on. This Swan gets all touchy-feely with eye and hand tracking. No clunky controllers. Wonder how that’ll work when you need precision. And as for chips, it’s got custom ones munching on data to cut down lag so what you see syncs with reality. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.

Swan squawks like it’s in cahoots with Meta’s device, supposedly named ‘Phoenix’—or is it ‘Loma’? Maybe ‘Puffin’? Honestly, these names! And they’re also into that light, nerdy puck thing, keeping it under a grand, if you trust the Wall Street folks.

Now, here’s the catch: no clue on the Swan’s price or where it’ll land. Based on history, Pico’s gear isn’t usually North American-friendly. Price-wise, it kinda hovers a bit higher than Meta’s gadgets. Mostly they hang out in East Asia, some parts of Europe, maybe down Southeast, but hey, who knows?

And that’s the gist. Let’s see if any of this pans out, or if it’s just another tech tease.