Pico Developing Sleek Mixed Reality Goggles to Compete with Next-Gen Meta Headset

Alright, so here’s the thing. There’s this juicy bit about Pico, right? It’s the company behind those funky XR headsets. Oh, and yeah, it’s owned by ByteDance—a.k.a. TikTok’s big boss. They’re cooking up a new gadget to go toe-to-toe with Meta’s futuristic headsets. I guess that’s a bit of drama, huh?

Now, get this. The gizmo—nicknamed ‘Swan’ (yeah, like the bird)—is apparently slim and light. Like, really light. We’re talking just 100 grams! I remember lifting a sandwich heavier than that. There’s this whole mysterious vibe because, of course, no one’s officially spilling the beans. But three sneaky insiders delivered tidbits, whispering about this hybrid setup. The headset wears only the glasses, and they offload the heavy lifting to some tech thingy—compute puck, they call it. Sounds like magic to me.

And then there’s this picture, right? It’s some snazzy stuff from Pico. You’ve probably already seen it floating online somewhere. Anyway—no, wait—back to the gossip. Swan throws away those clunky controllers. Instead, it’s all about eye and hand tracking. Just gaze and wave. Like wizardry, basically. They’re even brewing up custom chips to make sure what you see syncs like a dream with your real life. No lagging awkwardness.

It feels like a race, because word on the street is Meta’s also crafting some similar ‘Phoenix’ device with that compute puck thing. Some are saying mid to late 2020s for its grand entrance. Prices maybe below a grand, if whispers are true. Still, who really knows with these codenames? WSJ threw ‘Loma’ in the ring, while other tech blogs babble about ‘Puffin’. Names that fly all off in different directions.

But hey, no hints about what Swan’s gonna cost you. Pico’s headgear usually lands a bit pricier than Meta’s, served mostly to folks across Asia and Europe. North America, though? Seems it’s still in the waiting line.

And that’s the scoop… for now. Who knows how this’ll all unfold? Maybe in a totally new way, unexpected like, leaving us all open-mouthed like, “Wow, did that just happen?” 🤷‍♂️