Meta is prioritizing transport an ultralight Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, a number of sources inform UploadVR.
The 2 beforehand main candidates for a Quest 4 sequence, codenamed Pismo Low and Pismo Excessive, have been canceled, these sources counsel, whereas the following candidate for a standard type issue Quest would not ship till 2027.
Concurrently, the corporate is accelerating its plans for a particularly gentle headset with a tethered compute puck working the identical Horizon OS as at present’s Quest headsets, codenamed Puffin, hoping to launch by the tip of 2026. Meta is exploring a number of show system approaches for Puffin, at differing value factors, and hasn’t but settled on which it’s going to ship.
VR fanatics Luna and Brad Lynch have additionally publicly posted on X about Meta’s altering headset launch plans.
Meta Plans Ultralight Headset With Tethered Puck For 2027
Meta reportedly plans a brand new extraordinarily gentle headset with a tethered compute & battery puck for 2027 as an alternative of the canceled Quest Professional 2.
The Info first reported on Puffin’s existence round 9 months in the past, and some weeks after Meta Join Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth confirmed that report back to The Verge’s Alex Heath.
In line with The Info’s report from final 12 months, Puffin resembles “a cumbersome pair of glasses” and weighs lower than 110 grams. The report additionally described Puffin as not together with controllers, as an alternative utilizing the gaze-and-pinch enter scheme launched by Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. A part of the rationale for Puffin’s remarkably gentle weight is seemingly that it offloads each the battery and computing {hardware} to an exterior tethered puck, which The Info mentioned Meta “hopes” will likely be sufficiently small to slot in the wearer’s pocket.
Whereas it’s going to run the identical Horizon OS as at present’s Quest headsets, Puffin will possible be marketed for and targeted on digital screens, performing as a conveyable multi-monitor setup to allow you to spawn as many digital shows as you need, wherever you need, as huge as you need, for each leisure and productiveness. Whereas present standalone headsets can already do that, none are glossy and light-weight sufficient to be interesting for most individuals.
Meta Confirms Quest Professional 2 Cancelation & 2027 Ultralight Headset
Meta confirmed to The Verge earlier reporting that it canceled a 2027 Quest Professional 2 candidate and is engaged on an ultralight headset with a puck.
After all, the design and options of Puffin might have modified since that report, and will nonetheless change earlier than its launch. Meta might additionally cancel your entire challenge at any time, because it has repeatedly executed with in-development headsets prior to now.
When confirming Puffin’s existence to Alex Heath after Join 2024, Bosworth additionally detailed the levels of Meta’s {hardware} growth cycle:
- Pre-Discovery: a devoted crew is at all times “prototyping the craziest stuff”, making a “proof of expertise” for every concept.
- Discovery: a “small quantity” of Pre-Discovery ideas are authorized by govt overview to proceed to the Discovery part, the place “a couple of” staff study the practicalities of commercial design and value.
- Prototyping: if deemed sensible, Discovery ideas are prototyped, involving “possibly 10 instances extra folks”, who construct built-in {hardware} and software program to carry the idea to life.
- Engineering Validation Check: “roughly half” of these prototypes go to this remaining stage, the place they’re placed on the product roadmap. Of those EVTs, Meta executives apparently kill “about half” earlier than they ship, whereas the others launch to the general public.
In his public Instagram ask-me-anything periods, Bosworth has additionally repeatedly harassed that Meta is at all times engaged on a number of headsets in parallel, at varied levels on this cycle, with most being canceled.
Meta’s XR Income Declined Due To Decreased Quest Gross sales
Meta Actuality Labs quarterly income declined 6% year-over-year in Q1, and the corporate says this was “as a result of decrease Meta Quest gross sales”.
Nonetheless, Meta’s shifting priorities for headsets comes simply weeks after the corporate’s monetary outcomes revealed that the income from its Actuality Labs “metaverse and wearables” division was 6% decrease in Q1 2025 than it was in Q1 2024.
Meta’s CFO Susan Li advised buyers that the drop was “as a result of decrease Meta Quest gross sales, which have been partially offset by elevated gross sales of Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses”.
This implies that whereas Quest 3S had a robust launch quarter, and was a well-liked reward over the vacation season, its momentum did not carry by means of into the start of this 12 months. Meta could thus be basically re-evaluating its headset {hardware} technique, hoping to launch a product that does not simply promote effectively at Christmas.
Potential Leak: Asus ROG Headset To Have Face & Eye Monitoring
VR fanatic Luna acquired a tip claiming the Asus ROG headset working Meta Horizon OS may have face & eye monitoring.
This does not essentially imply that present gaming-focused Quest house owners should look ahead to 2027 for a direct improve path for his or her headset, although.
Asus and Lenovo are engaged on headsets powered by the identical Horizon OS that runs on Quest headsets. The Asus headset is coming from the corporate’s ROG gaming model, and was described as a “efficiency gaming headset” when first introduced final 12 months.
A possible leak from Luna earlier this 12 months urged the Asus ROG headset might have eye monitoring and extra superior shows than Quest 3.
