The ByteDance owned company is describing the Neo 3 Link consumer launch as a “beta program”, asking buyers to provide “feedback on upgrades to the Pico Store, Pico user account, payment, social, and other services”. But what comes after this beta?
Just before the launch livestream ended, Pico Europe General Manager Leland Hedges teased an Apple style “one more thing”, saying “I don’t think anyone’s done this before”:
“Everyone who participates in the beta program, should there be another product that comes from Pico within the next 12 months, they will be eligible for this discount.”
Neo 3 Link is actually the same hardware as the Neo 3 Pro sold to businesses since May last year. This 35% discount offer seems to strongly hint that Pico has been working on a new headset since then, which it seemingly plans to launch within the next 12 months.
There is an interesting disclaimer here: “Subject to beta program success”. That suggests ByteDance will be watching to see whether European consumers really adopt the Neo 3 Link at scale, or continue to stick with Meta’s almost identical Quest 2 instead.
Meta plans to launch its “Project Cambria” headset later this year, but that’s described as “a higher end of the price spectrum” new product line and not a Quest 2 successor. Further, as recently as December Meta’s “Consulting CTO” John Carmack said “Quest 2 will have a long life”. If Pico really is able to launch a new headset within 12 months, could it end up beating Meta to the next generation of mainstream standalone VR?
