The start-up acquired last year by ByteDance has just presented its new VR headset which has everything to compete with Meta Quest 2.
Soberly baptized “Pico 4” and aimed at the Asian and European markets, this helmet stand-alone indeed presents an extremely similar technical sheet and price, while waiting for a Pro version.
Pico Quest for Asian and European markets
Acquired by ByteDance (TikTok) last year, the manufacturer of VR headsets Pico took advantage of this financial support to massively develop its activities. This resulted in the fresh presentation of the Pico 4, a helmet stand-alone and a serious competitor to the famous Quest 2, which will be able to free itself from the Asian market alone to arrive in particular at home.
On the technical sheet side, it is in any case similar to the helmet of the American giant or even better, with a screen of 2,160 x 2,160 pixels per eye, a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a storage capacity of 128 GB or 256 GB.
In his quality of stand-alone, it has a battery promising three hours of autonomy, but can of course be connected to a PC, being SteamVR compatible, for better performance. In terms of design, it is slightly thinner than the Quest 2, weighing 586 grams including the strap (295 grams without).
In addition to the game thanks to joysticks very reminiscent of those of the Quest 2, the Pico 4 will eventually support the monitoring of the movement of the hands. He also wants to address athletes with a fitness monitoring system. For the comparison with the Quest 2 to be complete, Pico plans to launch its own virtual social environment aping the metaverse Horizon Worlds called… Pico Worldsby 2023.
In all respects, it is therefore intended to be a serious competitor in the affordable VR headset market, since it will be offered in Asia and Europe at 429 euros in its 128 GB version and 499 euros with 256 GB of storage. His arrival is scheduled for October.
Waiting for a Pro version to compete with the Meta Quest Pro
Pico does not intend to stop in such a good way in this form of duel between David and Goliath. The Chinese start-up supported by ByteDance also plans to compete with another upcoming headset from Meta: the Quest Pro, which will be presented on October 11 at the Meta Connect event.
Already called “Pico 4 Pro” in China and “Pico 4 Enterprise” for the rest of the world, this variant will offer, like the Quest Pro, cameras capable of tracking eye movement. The Chinese company is probably waiting for Meta’s announcement to be better able to pull the rug out from under it.
With these two products, Pico is therefore positioned as an actor capable of shaking up the small world of VR headsets. Will this be enough to shake the giant Meta, already well established thanks to its Quest 2? Only the future will tell us.
Source : pico
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