pico

Pico 4 & Pico 4 Pro Standalone VR Headsets Spotted in FCC Filing

July 25, 2022 From roadtovr

Pico Interactive, the VR hardware subsidiary to Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is apparently getting ready to release a new series of standalone VR headsets.

As first reported by Protocol, Pico filed the devices with the FCC late last week, saying in the filing that it intends to launch both a Pico 4 Pro and Pico 4 standalone headsets.

Both headsets are identical in specs “except additional eye tracking & face tracking function for Pico 4 Pro,” the company says in the filing.

As noted by Protocol, Pico appears to have called the new hardware ‘Phoenix’ in the FCC filing, and it’s reported to run on Android Q via a Qualcomm processor. FCC filings are typically vague as to not give away too much information pre-launch, so we’ll just have to wait to see how much of an upgrade it is over its latest.

It’s uncertain whether ‘Pico 4’ is the final naming scheme, or whether it’s a shorthand for Pico Neo 4, although it’s clear the company is looking to bring competition to basically the only real name in consumer VR standalones: Meta. Since its founding in 2015, Pico pretty much only targeted consumers in China and enterprise users in the West. That was before it released it Neo 3 Link in Europe back in May, a device that features near spec parity with Quest 2.

At the time, we surmised Pico was quickly eyeballing North America with its Neo 3 Link in an attempt to earnestly compete with Meta there, although now it’s possible the company is looking to one-up the competition with the new hardware before it makes landfall on Meta’s home turf.

The filing doesn’t reveal to what extent Pico 4 will be able to match Meta’s upcoming Project Cambria, which is a VR headset capable of doing augmented reality tasks thanks to its mixed reality passthrough camera sensors. The price of Cambria is set to be “significantly higher than $800” though, so there may be some wiggle room from a name that’s so far unknown to consumers in the US.

Cambria is said to include both eye and face-tracking, so it will be interesting to see how Pico intends on competing (likely with Pico 4 Pro), whether it be by pushing specs slightly beyond Quest 2 or going for full spec parity with Cambria.

Pico Launches Neo 3 Pro & Neo 3 Pro Eye, Serving up Strong Competition to Oculus & HTC

October 1, 2021 From roadtovr

Pico Interactive’s next generation headsets—the Pico Neo 3 Pro and 3 Pro Eye—are now shipping to businesses worldwide, and they’re looking to undercut both Oculus and HTC by offering a pretty appealing set of specs at one of the lowest prices we’ve seen targeted at enterprise.

Update (October 1st, 2021): Pico launched Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye, and it’s set to offer strong competition to Oculus Quest 2 Business Edition ($800) and HTC Vive Focus 3 ($1,300).

The new headsets, respectively priced at $700 and $900, include a battery strap similar to Oculus’ Elite Battery Strap for better comfort and longer battery life.

MRTV’s Sebastian Ang got to go hands-on with Pico Neo 3 Pro, and goes through a full unboxing and his impressions, which seem pretty favorable. If you’re short on time, jump to the 7-minute mark for Ang’s hands-on.

The original article announcing Neo 3 Pro and the Pro Eye variant follows below, including hardware specs.

Original Article (May 10th, 2021): Pico says these follow-up devices are “built for businesses and will be available in the West, including North America and Europe.” The company is also releasing them in China as well.

Pico says both Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye will be available to enterprise sometime in Q3 2021, and they will be made available for pre-order on the Pico Neo website for $699 and $899 respectively. In China, its consumer Pico Neo 3 is coming in three flavors, priced locally at the US dollar equivalent of $390, $420, and $470.

As the name would suggest, its Neo 3 Pro Eye includes sensors for eye tracking; like in Neo 2 Eye, the eye tracking hardware is being provided by Tobii, the Sweden-based company known for integrating its tech into Vive Pro Eye, HP VR Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition, and more.

“Both 6DoF models were built for the enterprise and are powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Platform,” the company says in a press statement. “The headsets have a single 5.5 [inch] display with 3,664 × 1,920 resolution, a PPI of 773 and up to 90Hz refresh rate. With safety of utmost importance, the headsets also have a replaceable PU sterilizable face cushion that’s hygienic and washable.”

Much like Facebook’s Quest hardware, both Neo 3 headsets include two optically-tracked motion controllers and four head-mounted camera sensors.

The Pico Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye are also slated to tether to PCs via NVIDIA’s Direct Mode, which lets the DisplayPort supported headsets to provide native 4K@90Hz wired connection for Pico VR Streaming.

Pico says all of its Neo 3 headsets will also support NVIDIA CloudXR too, which lets you wirelessly stream VR content via 5G and WiFi networks.

Pico Confirms Acquisition by TikTok Parent Company, Rumored $775 Million Purchase Price

August 30, 2021 From roadtovr

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.

Chinese VR news publication Nweon reports that due diligence for the deal was happening as far back as June. If that’s true, and the deal discussion is still ongoing, it suggests the deal is quite far along and could be nearing a conclusion.

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.