A Chinese VR analyst who’s been reliable in the past claims Pico plans to release a high end headset before September.
In a note posted to WeChat, the analyst 黑毛警长008 suggests the ByteDance-owned brand plans to intentionally beat Meta’s Project Cambria to market with a very similar product. Just as Meta stated that Cambria isn’t a Quest 3, the analyst claims Pico’s headset isn’t a Neo 4. Instead the name “may be Pico Pro, Pico Neo 3 Pro+, or a new name series for it” suggesting it will be sold alongside the current Neo 3 line, not replace it.
The current Pico Neo 3 also has remarkably similar specs to Meta’s Quest 2. Like Cambria, Pico’s high end headset will apparently use pancake lenses for a slimmer and lighter form factor and feature higher resolution, eye tracking, face tracking, and advanced controllers which ditch the tracking ring in favor of onboard tracking cameras.
The hardware cost of this product will be “far higher” than the Pico Neo 3 the analyst says, which was announced as launching to European consumers last week for €449. Meta has hinted on multiple occasions that Quest 2 is sold at or below what it costs to make, and the analyst claims the same “very aggressive subsidy policy” is happening for Pico Neo 3 and will continue with the new product too.
The analyst also claims Meta’s Project Cambria will launch in September, and that ByteDance will intentionally adopt a strategy to ship its headset earlier than Meta. If true, the product should launch within the next four months.
Pico described the Neo 3 Link consumer launch as a “beta program”, and made an unusual offer of giving buyers a 35% discount on a future model “should there be another product that comes from Pico within the next 12 months”. If this analyst’s report is to be believed, that offer may be referring to this high end model rather than a Neo 4.
Quest 2 and Neo 3 Link have the same chip, the same amount of RAM, the same resolution, the same type of display, and the same lens separation control mechanism. Both have four tracking cameras mounted in identical positions.
Here’s how they both compare to HTC’s Vive Focus 3 on a spec sheet:
Quest 2
Neo 3 Link
Vive Focus 3
Display per eye
1832×1920 LCD
1832×1920 LCD
2448×2448 LCD
Refresh Rate
60 Hz / 72 Hz / 80 Hz
/ 90 Hz / 120 Hz
90 Hz
90 Hz
Lens Separation
3-Stage (58mm / 63mm / 68mm)
3-Stage (58mm / 63mm / 69mm)
Granular 58mm-70mm
Chip
Snapdragon XR2
Snapdragon XR2
Snapdragon XR2
RAM
6 GB
6 GB
8 GB
Cameras
4
4
4
Hand Tracking
Yes
No
Yes
Price & Storage
€349 (128 GB)
€449 (256 GB)
€449
(256 GB)
€1404*
(128 GB + microSD)
* includes 2 year business license, extended warranty, and support
The Differences
Storage Pricing
Quest 2 is available in two models, one with 128 GB of storage for €349 and another with 256 GB of storage for €449.
Neo 3 Link only comes in one model: 256 GB for the same €449 price as a 256 GB Quest 2.
Weight Balance & Included Strap
While Neo 3 Link is priced the same as the €449 Quest 2, that doesn’t mean they offer the same hardware value out of the box.
Quest 2 comes with a soft strap which doesn’t offer any counterbalance to the headset’s front-heavy weight. Meta will sell you an “Elite Strap” accessory for €49, or an Elite Strap with an extra battery built in for €109.
Neo 3 Link comes with this “elite” style of strap, and the battery is built into the rear. This gives it superior weight balance, and therefore comfort, without any extra costs.
Wired PC VR Connection
Neo 3 Link and Quest 2 are both standalone (essentially VR consoles) but also support PC-based VR if you have a gaming PC, letting you play the VR content on Steam and elsewhere.
Both headsets let you do this wirelessly over your home Wi-Fi network. But Wi-Fi has considerably less bandwidth than display cables meaning the video stream has to be compressed, reducing the quality and adding a small amount of latency. Further, problems like network congestion and signal degradation can cause stutters and hitches.
Quest’s wired PC VR support works via USB. This avoids the problems of wireless but it’s still a compressed video stream, since even USB 3.0 has considerably less bandwidth than display cables. It also can introduce new issues, as not all motherboard USB controllers can handle this kind of use case.
Pico Neo 3 Link’s wired PC VR mode uses DisplayPort, with a 5 meter cable included in the box. Just like PC-only headsets such as Valve’s Index this delivers an uncompressed video stream with no extra latency and no USB issues. The Neo 3 is both a standalone headset and a “real” PC VR headset, in one product.
Controller-Free Hand Tracking
Both headsets have extremely similar controllers; with a thumbstick, two buttons, index trigger, grip trigger, and menu button, tracked by a ring with infrared LEDs under the IR-transparent plastic.
But Quest 2 also supports controller-free hand tracking. In games such as Hand Physics Lab, ForeVR Darts, Unplugged, Cubism, Waltz of the Wizard and Vacation Simulator you don’t need to pick up controllers at all.
The hand tracking quality isn’t perfect, but it’s a unique experience that lets you use the full dexterity of your fingers instead of being restricted to buttons, triggers, and sticks. And in social VR it can let you express yourself in new ways.
Max Refresh Rate
Pico Neo 3 Link’s display refresh rate is 90 Hz, meaning 90 frames per second are displayed.
Quest 2 gives developers five choices of refresh rate: 60 Hz, 72 Hz, 80 Hz, 90 Hz, and 120 Hz. On the Quest Store and App Lab, 60 Hz is only allowed for 360 degree video content, not apps, virtual environments or games.
That 120 Hz mode isn’t practical for most games to reach as it only gives 8 milliseconds for each frame to be rendered. But titles like Eleven Table Tennis use it to give extra responsiveness and lower latency than is possible on Pico or HTC standalones.
Pico Interactive primarily targets enterprise users outside of China, however now the company has taken a significant step into European consumer market, as it’s officially launched its new Neo 3 variant there, Pico Neo 3 Link, which features both standalone and PC-tethered capability.
Update (May 25th, 2022): Pico announced the news in a tweet yesterday, seen below:
The #Neo3Link is here! We have entered the European #VR consumer headset market and we are happy to announce the sales start of our 2-in-1 (All-In-One and #PCVR) device. The beta community can provide feedback and actively influence development https://t.co/Qmy9R2NkOhpic.twitter.com/HjEtQqQi75
The headset is selling in Europe for €450, however the Neo 3 Link order page also indicates the device can be pre-ordered for shipment to the US, priced at $415, as well as other countries outside of Europe. We’ve reached out to Pico to see whether this pricing and availability is official, and will update here soon.
The original article follows below:
Original Article (April 13th, 2022): Called Neo 3 Link, the headset is aiming to straddle the PC VR and standalone headset segments by offering built-in PC streaming over either Wi-Fi 6, or tethered DisplayPort connection. It’s ostensibly the same hardware as the Pico Neo 3 Pro, albeit targeted at consumers.
For now, the company is pitching the headset as a kind of consumer beta, asking early adopters in Europe to help them improve the Pico Store, payment system, social… everything a company needs to compete with Meta in the realm of consumer standalone VR.
Image courtesy Pico Interactive
Pico says it’s launching pre-orders for Neo 3 Link starting April 15th in a number of European countries—coming first to Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands, priced at €450. Pre-orders end May 23rd.
Neo 3 Link is also coming to the UK starting in June at £400, with other European markets added at monthly intervals. That’s exact price parity with an equally equipped Meta Quest 2—not counting the ‘Elite’ style strap that Quest users have to buy extra.
“In Asia, Pico is already the leading provider of consumer VR headsets in China and will bring the beta program to new markets such as Japan and Korea. Pico will target VR fans and gamers with its new Link headset; users will participate in a unique beta program where feedback informs future product development,” Pico says in a press statement.
In addition to being able to play SteamVR titles over Wi-Fi 6 or tethered DisplayPort, the company says its native standalone Pico Store features over 200 VR apps such as SUPERHOT VR, Puzzling Places, After the Fall, Walkabout Mini Golf, Elven Table Tennis, and Demeo.
Pico Neo 3 Link Specs
Display: 5.5-inch SFR TFT at 3,664 x 1,920 (773 PPI), refresh rate of up to 90Hz
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
Memory: 6GB RAM
Storage: 256GB
Connection: Wi-Fi 6, DisplayPort (DP Link cable included)
Sensors: 4 room-scale 6DOF sensors
Controllers: standard ‘Touch’ button layout, optically tracked
Hygiene: replaceable PU face pad with antifouling coating
The ByteDance owned company is describing the Neo 3 Link consumer launch as a “beta program”, asking buyers to provide “feedback on upgrades to the Pico Store, Pico user account, payment, social, and other services”. But what comes after this beta?
Just before the launch livestream ended, Pico Europe General Manager Leland Hedges teased an Apple style “one more thing”, saying “I don’t think anyone’s done this before”:
“Everyone who participates in the beta program, should there be another product that comes from Pico within the next 12 months, they will be eligible for this discount.”
Neo 3 Link is actually the same hardware as the Neo 3 Pro sold to businesses since May last year. This 35% discount offer seems to strongly hint that Pico has been working on a new headset since then, which it seemingly plans to launch within the next 12 months.
There is an interesting disclaimer here: “Subject to beta program success”. That suggests Pico will be watching to see whether European consumers really adopt the Neo 3 Link at scale, or continue to stick with Meta’s almost identical Quest 2 instead.
Meta plans to launch its “Project Cambria” headset later this year, but that’s described as “a higher end of the price spectrum” new product line and not Quest 3. Further, as recently as December Meta’s “Consulting CTO” John Carmack said “Quest 2 will have a long life”. If Pico really is able to launch a new headset within 12 months, could it end up beating Meta to the next generation of mainstream standalone VR?
Both headsets are standalone (essentially VR consoles) but they also support PC-based VR if you have a gaming PC, so you can play SteamVR games.
Both headsets let you do this wirelessly over your home Wi-Fi network. But Wi-Fi has considerably less bandwidth than display cables, so the video stream is compressed, reducing the quality and adding a small amount of latency. Further, problems like network congestion and signal degradation can cause stutters and hitches.
Quest 2 also supports PC VR via a USB Type-C cable. This avoids the problems of wireless, but it’s still a compressed video stream, since even USB 3.0 has considerably less bandwidth than display cables. It also can introduce new issues, as not all motherboards properly comply with the USB 3.0 spec.
Pico Neo 3 Link’s unique feature is that its wired PC VR mode uses a DisplayPort cable, included in the box. Just like PC-only headsets (such as Valve Index) this delivers an uncompressed video stream with no extra latency. Essentially, the Neo 3 is both a standalone headset and a “real” PC VR headset, in one product.
Meta may be planning its own PC VR trick though. Last week code was found in the Quest 2 PC drivers referencing an ‘Air Bridge’ USB dongle. This may never launch as a product, but if it does it could avoid many of the issues inherent in using your home Wi-Fi network for wireless VR. Still though, it would be a compressed stream.
With Neo 3 Link supporting native uncompressed PC VR at €449, it could be an attractive option for buyers in Europe looking for a cheaper alternative to the €649 HP Reverb G2 and €1079 Valve Index kit for SteamVR.
Pico Neo 3 Pro is getting a high quality hand tracking accessory from Ultraleap.
Pico was a China-based startup which launched the first standalone VR headset, Pico Goblin, a year before Oculus Go. Last year it was acquired by ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind the TikTok social media platform. Pico’s latest model, Neo 3 Pro, has remarkably similar specs and design to Meta’s Quest 2. But in western markets Pico currently only sells to businesses, not consumers, and it lacks built in controller free hand tracking.
The Ultraleap hand tracking bundle will be formally released in summer. It includes the headset, Ultraleap’s Stereo IR 170 tracker, and a bespoke mount pre-attached with Ultraleap’s software pre-installed.
I had the chance to try Ultraleap’s latest technology at CES 2022. The hand tracking quality was significantly better than Quest 2 – the virtual hands seemed to match my own precisely and with no perceptible latency, and I could even interlock my fingers. Only by almost entirely occluding one hand did tracking start to fail.
For now an “early access” bundle is available for “developers, evaluation, and proof of concepts”, but Ultraleap cautions this is not suitable for scalable deployments as the tracker currently lacks the European Economic Area’s CE regulatory marking. The bundle is priced at €999 in Europe, sold by Bestware and VR Expert. In the US it’s sold by Mace Virtual Labs.
Businesses may be able to buy the tracker separately and attach it to their own Pico Neo 3 Pro, but that wouldn’t include the mount or software license.
Standalone VR headset maker Pico is teasing a ‘Special Announcement’ for later this week.
The company is due to reveal the news on April 13 during the Laval Virtual Europe conference. It will host a stream of the announcement, which is set to go live at 3:05pm CET, or 2:05pm in the UK and 9:05am/6:05am in ET/PT respectively.
No word yet on exactly what the company will announce but there has been plenty of speculation that Pico might look to release a consumer version of its Neo 3 headset in western markets. Currently, the company sells the device — which is powered by the same Qualcomm XR2 platform used in Quest 2 — to consumers in Asia, and it already features popular games like Superhot VR, Eleven Table Tennis and OhShape. But Pico also sells an enterprise-focused version of the device, the Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye, in Europe and the US.
Along with using the XR2 platform, the Neo 3 also features four camera-based inside-out tracking and comes with two motion controllers. On paper at least, the headset is very similar to the Quest 2.
Last year, TikTok owner ByteDance acquired Pico, only fueling rumors that a consumer expansion may be on the way and, last month, ByteDance announced a partnership with Qualcomm to work on XR headsets. A potential consumer release of the Neo 3 in the west could offer up some of the first real competition for the Quest 2 though, without knowing what the price of the product is nor when it might release, it’s best to keep expectations in check right now.
Last week’s rumors have been confirmed – TikTok owner ByteDance is set to acquire standalone VR headset maker, Pico.
CNBC reported the news (which was first confirmed by Chinese publication Nweon) noting that the financial details of the deal had not been disclosed. In a statement issued to the publication, ByteDance said that Pico’s “comprehensive suite of software and hardware technologies, as well as the talent and deep expertise of the team, will support both our entry to the VR space and long-term investment in this emerging field.”
Pico Acquisition Confirmed
There was not, however, any confirmation that ByteDance will be growing Pico’s business outside of the Chinese market. Currently the company sells its Pico Neo 3 standalone VR device as a consumer product with games in China, but only as an enterprise-focused ‘Pro’ device in North America and Europe. There’s also an upgraded eye-tracking model named Pico Neo 3 Eye sold to businesses too.
All the same, a company the size of ByteDance — which has seen huge success with TikTok — investing VR could present the first significant competition to Facebook’s Oculus Quest. Other companies like Sony, Valve and HTC all make great VR headsets, but they’re either tethered to more expensive machines like PCs and consoles, or exclusively sold to the enterprise market.
We haven’t tested the Neo 3 ourselves but its specs are very close to that of the Oculus Quest 2, and the headset even has some of the same games that feature on that device where it’s sold in China.
What do you make of ByteDance acquiring Pico? Let us know in the comments below!
Following rumors that it was poised to be acquired by TikTok parent company ByteDance, VR headset maker Pico has confirmed the purchase, according to reporting by Chinese VR publication Nweon. The acquisition price hasn’t been officially announced but is rumored to be ¥5 billion (~$775 million).
Update (August 30th, 2021): After rumors began swirling late last week, Chinese VR publication Nweon says that an internal Pico memo has confirmed the acquisition by ByteDance. VR Tuoluo is reporting a rumored cost of ¥5 billion (~$775 million) for the acquisition, though an official figure hasn’t been confirmed.
At $775 million the purchase would still be well short of the $2.4 billion Facebook paid for Oculus in 2014, but it would still be a landmark acquisition in the history of VR.
The original article, which covers the initial rumors of the acquisition last week, continues below.
In a move that in some ways parallels Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus in 2014, TikTok parent company ByteDance is looking to buy Pico—the VR headset maker behind headsets like the standalone Neo 3 and G2 4K—according to a report by Bloomberg citing a source “familiar with the matter.”
According to the report, talks about an acquisition are ongoing and a final decision hasn’t been made.
Founded in 2015, Pico claims to have more than 300 employees around the world. The company has raised some $66 million in venture capital to date, with its most recent round just earlier this year.
While the Pico is best known in the Western VR market as a maker of enterprise VR headsets, the company has ambitions to compete with Facebook and the likes of Quest in the consumer market as well. A consumer angle seems like the likely approach for ByteDance which is largely built around consumer-focused applications.
ByteDance, the owner of social video platform TikTok, may be about to acquire VR headset maker, Pico.
Bloomberg cites “a person familiar with the matter” in saying the Chinese giant is in talks with Pico about a potential acquisition. These talks are reportedly ongoing, with a final decision yet to be made. We’ve reached out to Pico to confirm the report.
Pico Acquisition On The Way?
The report surfaces at an interesting time for Pico. For years, the headset maker has produced a range of standalone VR devices for various markets. Most recently it launched the Pico Neo 3, a 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) headset with similar specs to Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2, including the Snapdragon XR2 chipset.
But, while the Neo 3 has an impressive line-up of games, the consumer version of the device is only launching in China. North America and Europe, meanwhile, get the enterprise-focused Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye with eye-tracking. Earlier this year the company told us there are no plans to launch a consumer version of the Neo 3 outside of China at this time.
What the report doesn’t disclose is what ByteDance might want with Pico should an acquisition go ahead. Could we expect to see Pico double down on its consumer focus in Asia? Or might it represent a chance for the company to expand those operations into other regions to give the Quest 2 some much-needed competition? We’ll have to wait and see for now.
