TikTok’s Meta Quest rival is finally coming to the US this year, along with a new headset and a redesigned OS.
What you need to know
- The upcoming Pico OS 6 completely redesigns the OS, including a new rendering engine, a new UI design, powerful new SDKs built on Android Studio, and more.
- Project Swan is a high-end XR headset with custom silicon, 40-45PPD resolution, and a new design, launching globally sometime in Q2.
- Pico, owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, will bring its headset and software to North American consumers for the first time this year, marking the end of an era of limited releases.
At a special developer event, Pico announced its biggest ever OS update, which comes with a major redesign and powerful new development tools. The 15-minute presentation was packed with information, with no time wasted highlighting the benefits of the new OS and the problems Pico aims to solve.
Additionally, Pico has announced a new headset, currently called Project Swan, which is scheduled to come to the US for the first time, probably sometime in Q2 of this year. Project Swan marks a big step forward for Pico, which is owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, as it will finally release consumer products in the US for the first time. So far, Pico’s presence in the US has been limited to business customers.
Project Swan aims to be the first headset that “can fully replace your monitors,” according to a keynote presentation, by delivering a resolution of 40-45 pixels per degree (PPD), a first for a consumer VR headset. High-end headsets, like the Galaxy XR, only sport 35 PPD.
This is achieved through a combination of new, ultra-dense Micro-OLED displays with a resolution of 4000 ppi (not typing), which is 10x the density of modern smartphones. Additionally, Pico has developed its own lenses and custom silicon to drive the best visuals and performance necessary to achieve these goals.
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Pico says its custom chipset is 2x the CPU and GPU power of existing Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processors, which power the latest Meta Quest and Samsung Galaxy XR headsets. It is not known if Project Swan will come with controllers or if it will be designed for productivity and entertainment, like the Galaxy XR.
Ahead of the official launch, Pico is conducting a worldwide test of the new Pico OS 6 and will be sending a Project Swan headset to a few lucky people to test it out. You can sign up for the beta here. Pico OS 6 aims to solve several problems with existing XR OSes, including an improved rendering pipeline that can run standard Android apps “directly in embedded layers” rather than split 2D windows.
This is probably a direct call to Meta, which tends to structure its OS in a layered fashion. Pico says that this new paradigm will lead to a proper interaction between 2D and 3D elements, including remote avatar interaction with the virtual and physical world. Pico says its new OS “supports a wide range of application ecosystems, including Spatial applications, OpenXR, WebXR, Android applications, web applications, and PC VR streaming.”
Android Central’s take
It seems that ByteDance may celebrate the victory of the TikTok US deal by trying its hand at another big pillar of the company’s vision. ByteDance acquired Pico back in 2021 when it became clear that the Oculus Quest 2 was selling pirates, but failed to make that rapid growth because it could not release new headphones in key markets like North America.
Now, this new headset, which will likely be expensive, has the potential to be a true competitor to the upcoming Meta Project Phoenix in more ways than one. Given Pico’s open source status and unwavering commitment to VR over the years, there’s a real chance that the company could have a great foothold in the market and become a true competitor to the Meta that the market so desperately needed.
