Meta Prioritizing Ultra-Light Headset With Puck Over Traditional Quest 4
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Meta is prioritizing shipping an ultralight Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, multiple sources tell UploadVR.
The two previously leading candidates for a Quest 4 series, codenamed Pismo Low and Pismo High, have been canceled, these sources suggest, while the next candidate for a traditional form factor Quest most likely wouldn't ship until 2027.
Simultaneously, the company is accelerating its plans for an extremely light open-periphery headset with a tethered compute puck running the same Horizon OS as today's Quest headsets, codenamed Puffin, hoping to launch by the end of 2026. Meta is exploring multiple display system approaches for Puffin, at differing price points, and hasn't yet settled on which it will ship.
VR enthusiasts Luna and Brad Lynch have also publicly posted about Meta's changing headset release plans.
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Meta is prioritizing shipping an ultralight Horizon OS headset with a tethered compute puck in 2026, multiple sources tell UploadVR.
The two previously leading candidates for a Quest 4 series, codenamed Pismo Low and Pismo High, have been canceled, these sources suggest, while the next candidate for a traditional form factor Quest most likely wouldn't ship until 2027.
Simultaneously, the company is accelerating its plans for an extremely light open-periphery headset with a tethered compute puck running the same Horizon OS as today's Quest headsets, codenamed Puffin, hoping to launch by the end of 2026. Meta is exploring multiple display system approaches for Puffin, at differing price points, and hasn't yet settled on which it will ship.
VR enthusiasts Luna and Brad Lynch have also publicly posted about Meta's changing headset release plans.
I have a general dislike of Facebook which has kept me away from their headsets, however this actually seems like a great idea.
Wearing a computer on your face instead of on your back has been one of the most asinine design choices of standalone vr. Comfort issues from putting weight on your neck while you're expected to look around, the headset jostling around because of the momentum of the weight, the heat buildup from having both the screen and the computation on your face. Trying to solve these hurdles by making the computer itself more lightweight and cool has probably had other tradeoffs, likely regarding performance.
