Pico immediately introduced the Pico 4 standalone VR headset, with pricing and content material aspirations that make it clear the corporate hopes to compete immediately with Quest 2. The headset will launch in October beginning in Europe and a few Asian areas, with no plans for a US launch simply but.
Pico has been making VR headsets for years, although the corporate has primarily served the enterprise market so far. Extra not too long ago the corporate was acquired by ByteDance and earlier this yr took its first critical step into the buyer VR area with the discharge of the Pico Neo 3 Hyperlink, a standalone VR headset that additionally has the flexibility to tether to a desktop for PC VR gaming.
Lower than a yr later the corporate is sort of able to launch the Pico 4, and this time round it hopes to get a leg up on Meta’s Quest 2 headset in value and options, whereas angling to be aggressive on content material as properly.
Pico 4 Revealed
Pico 4 will begin at €430 for the 128GB mannequin and €500 for the 256GB mannequin (that’s €20 and €50 lower than Quest 2’s equivalents), making it clear the corporate is hoping to undercut Meta on value, one thing which will have been tougher with out Meta having raised the value on the headset just some months in the past.
Whereas each headsets are constructed on high of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 processor, Pico 4 will convey 8GB of RAM to Quest 2’s 6GB. Moreover Pico 4 goals to be extra compact than Quest 2 with the addition of ‘pancake optics’ which ought to scale back the majority of the headset because of a folded optical path. Moreover the Pico 4 is sporting a barely greater decision at 2,160 × 2,160 (4.7MP) per-eye in comparison with Quest 2’s 1,832 × 1,920 (3.5MP).
Together with a rear-mounted battery on Pico 4, these are the important thing {hardware} variations. Right here’s a full have a look at how the headsets evaluate on paper:
Pico 4 vs. Quest 2 Specs |
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| Pico 4 | Quest 2 | |
| Decision | 2,160 × 2,160 (4.7MP) per-eye, LCD (2x) | 1,832 × 1,920 (3.5MP) per-eye, LCD (1x) |
| Refresh Fee | 72Hz, 90Hz | 60Hz, 72Hz, 80Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz |
| Lenses | Pancake | Single component Fresnel |
| Subject-of-view (claimed) | 105° | ~90° |
| Optical Changes | IPD (motorized) | IPD, eye-relief (through included spacer) |
| IPD Adjustment Vary | 62-72mm | 58mm, 63mm, 68mm |
| Processor | Snapdragon XR2 | Snapdragon XR2 |
| RAM | 8GB | 6GB |
| Storage | 128GB / 256GB | 64GB / 128GB / 256GB |
| Connectors | unknown | USB-C |
| Battery Life (claimed) | 2.5-3 hours (5,300 mAh) | 2-3 hours |
| Monitoring | Inside-out (no exterior beacons) | Inside-out (no exterior beacons) |
| On-board cameras | 4x (exterior), 1x 16MP RGB | 4x IR (exterior) |
| Enter | Pico 4 movement controllers | Oculus Contact v3 (AA battery 1x), hand-tracking, voice |
| Audio | In-headstrap audio system | In-headstrap audio system, 3.5mm aux output |
| Microphone | Sure | Sure |
| Move-through view | unknown | Sure |
| MSRP | €430 (128GB), €500 (256GB) | €450 (128GB), €550 (256GB) |
Pico 4 Pricing & Launch Date
Beginning at €430 for the 128GB mannequin and €500 for the 256GB mannequin, Pico 4 will start pre-orders for most people in October; those that bought the Neo 3 Hyperlink will be capable of pre-order as early as tomorrow. Pico 4 shall be launched on October 18th beginning in 13 European international locations in addition to Japan and Korea, with plans to launch in Singapore and Malaysia later this yr and China ultimately. The corporate hasn’t revealed plans to launch Pico 4 within the US.
Pico 4 Equipment
Along with the headset, Pico has introduced plans to launch three first-party equipment for the Pico 4 in 2023. All priced at €50, they embody a health tracker for extra correct health monitoring, a wi-fi dongle for wi-fi PC VR, and a carrying case.
Pico 4 Content material Library
Even when Pico 4 manages to compete with Quest 2 on the {hardware} entrance, there’s nonetheless a critical problem forward in getting a comparable quantity of high quality content material onto the headset.
To that finish, Pico has introduced that some contemporary and upcoming VR video games shall be obtainable on the headset, like Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, Ultimechs, Demeo, and The Strolling Lifeless: Saints & Sinners.
The corporate can be aiming to start curating health content material for the headset, together with Les Mills Physique Fight, All-in-One Summer season Sports activities VR, and Simply Dance VR.
We’ve reached out to Pico for a extra full checklist of content material anticipated to be obtainable on the headset.
The corporate additionally says it plans to launch its personal Pico World social VR platform in 2023 and launch a sequence of unique documentaries from the Discovery Channel.