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Pico VR

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Pico
Information
Industry Virtual reality, Mixed reality
Founded March 2015
Founder Henry Zhou (Zhou Hongwei)
Headquarters Beijing, China
Notable Personnel Li Xiaokai (head of Pico from July 2026); Henry Zhou (founder, head of Pico until July 2026)
Products Pico 4 Ultra, Pico 4, Pico Neo 3, Pico G series headsets, PICO Motion Tracker, PICO OS
Parent ByteDance (since 2021)
Website https://www.picoxr.com


Pico (styled PICO, also known as Pico Interactive or Pico VR; legal name Pico Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese maker of standalone virtual reality and mixed reality headsets. Pico says it was founded in March 2015 and that its main business is all-in-one VR headsets, supported by its own content store.[1][2] ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, bought the company in August 2021. At the time market research firm IDC ranked Pico as the third-largest VR headset maker in the world for the first quarter of 2021.[3]

Before the acquisition, Pico sold mainly to consumers in China and to business customers in Western markets.[4] After the acquisition it launched consumer headsets in Europe and Asia, including the Pico 4 (2022) and the Pico 4 Ultra (2024), but announced no North American launch for either.[5][6] In July 2026 founder Henry Zhou stepped down as head of the business and was replaced by Li Xiaokai.[7] Its next headset, the Pico Space Pro, has been announced but not released; Pico has said it will arrive in the fourth quarter of 2026.[8]

Reviewed 27 September 2026. Checked the company history, funding, acquisition, restructuring, 2026 leadership change, Space Pro status, platform and device table facts against each cited source. About review dates.

History

Founding and first standalone headsets

Pico's founder and former chief executive, Henry Zhou (Zhou Hongwei), previously worked as an engineer at Goertek, an acoustic and optical components company. KrASIA reported that he chose to build standalone headsets instead of phone-based or PC-tethered VR.[9] Road to VR described the company as Beijing-based and listed its early hardware as the Neo DK development kit (2016), the Goblin (2017) and the Pico Neo (late 2017).[10]

The Pico Goblin was an all-in-one headset that needed no phone, PC or console to operate; Road to VR described it as using a 3DoF controller.[10] Pico began delivering it to customers in North America in the week of 22 August 2017, priced at US$269, with Europe following a week later at €299 (£269 in the UK). More than 50 games and apps were available at launch.[11] The press release said the company had more than 300 team members and operations in the United States, Europe, China and Japan.[11]

On 26 December 2017 Pico gave details of the Pico Neo, which it called the first mass-produced standalone VR headset with 6DoF head and controller tracking. It used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, tracked its controllers with an ultrasonic system and needed no external sensors. Pico opened pre-orders at US$749 to qualified business customers and developers in the United States and the European Union.[2] Road to VR tried the headset at CES 2018. It reported that the controller tracking used ultrasonic technology from Chirp Microsystems, noted visible tracking latency, and said Pico planned to launch the Neo globally with HTC's Viveport mobile store.[12] The same December 2017 release announced Pico Zense depth cameras (DCAM100 and DCAM710) at US$299, with a range of 0.2 to 8 meters. Pico also said its business programs had reached more than 200 companies in 2017 in fields such as aerospace, education, healthcare and automotive, naming Toyota, Volkswagen and China Life as partners.[2]

Series A and the G2 line

In August 2018 Pico raised a Series A round of 167.5 million yuan (about US$24.7 million by Road to VR's conversion), led by GF Qianhe and GF Xinde Investment with Jufeng S&T Venture Investment and others taking part. At the same time it announced the Goblin 2 (Pico G2), which used a Snapdragon 835, had a 2,880 x 1,600 resolution at 90 Hz with a 101-degree field of view and a single 3DoF controller, and was priced at 2,000 yuan in China.[10]

Ahead of CES 2019 Pico revealed the Pico G2 4K, a higher-resolution 3DoF model with a Snapdragon 835, 4 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and a weight of 278 grams. Pico aimed it at businesses, with a kiosk mode that locks the headset to a single application. According to UploadVR, Henry Zhou said the enterprise market held "far more untapped potential" than consumer VR. The headset ran both Pico's own store and HTC's Viveport M storefront.[13] KrASIA reported in June 2020 that the G series had sold more than 100,000 headsets in the previous year.[9]

Enterprise sales in the West

The Neo 2 was released in China in March 2020 at 4,399 yuan, according to KrASIA.[9] On 27 May 2020 Pico announced that the Pico Neo 2 and Pico Neo 2 Eye were shipping worldwide to enterprise customers, sold through sales teams in San Francisco and Barcelona. Both used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845; the Neo 2 cost US$699 and the Neo 2 Eye, which added eye tracking from Tobii, cost US$899. Pico stated that more than 200 thousand Pico VR headsets had been sold worldwide by then.[14]

Neo 3 and the ByteDance acquisition

In March 2021 Pico closed a Series B+ round of 242 million yuan (US$37 million).[15] TechCrunch put its total venture funding at about US$62 million.[4] Road to VR reported in April 2021 that the consumer Pico Neo 3 would be launched at an event in Beijing on 10 May 2021 and reach consumers in Asia from that date. It used the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, four wide-angle tracking cameras, optically tracked controllers and three physical IPD settings.[16] On the same day Pico announced the Pico Neo 3 Pro (US$699) and Pico Neo 3 Pro Eye (US$899) for businesses in North America and Europe. The Pro Eye used Tobii eye tracking, and both supported NVIDIA Direct Mode for a wired PC connection and NVIDIA CloudXR for wireless streaming. Road to VR reported in October 2021 that they were shipping to businesses worldwide.[17]

ByteDance confirmed the purchase of Pico on 30 August 2021 without disclosing the price.[4][3] ByteDance said Pico's hardware and software technology and its team would support both its entry into VR and a long-term investment in the field.[15] Caixin reported that Pico held 35.7% of China's VR headset market in the second quarter of 2021, the largest share of any domestic vendor.[15] EqualOcean reported that Pico confirmed the deal in an internal letter on 29 August 2021 and gave the price as 9 billion yuan (US$1.39 billion), higher than the 5 billion yuan figure in earlier reports.[18] Reporting by 36Kr, republished by KrASIA in 2023, gave the same 9 billion yuan figure from a senior executive and said ByteDance added another 10 billion yuan to Pico in 2022.[19]

Consumer launches in Europe and Asia

Pico announced the Pico Neo 3 Link at the Laval Virtual event in France in April 2022. It was priced at €449 (£399 in the UK), with pre-orders from 15 April and shipping from 24 May 2022 in Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands, followed by the UK and Italy in June. Pico called the launch a "beta program" in which owners would give feedback on the Pico Store, user accounts, payment, social and other services.[20]

The Pico 4 was announced on 22 September 2022 and released on 18 October 2022 in 13 European countries, Japan and South Korea, with Singapore and Malaysia to follow. It had pancake lenses, a 2,160 x 2,160 per-eye resolution, a claimed 105-degree field of view, a Snapdragon XR2 and 8 GB of RAM, and cost €430 (128 GB) or €500 (256 GB). Pico did not announce a US launch.[5] UploadVR gave its weight as 295 grams without the straps.[21] The business version, Pico 4 Enterprise, was announced in October 2022 at €900 including a business warranty, license and priority support. It added three cameras for eye and face tracking (one per eye and one for the lower face) and adjusted IPD automatically. Pico sold it only to registered businesses in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand; UploadVR reported that it was based on the Pico 4 Pro, a consumer model sold in China.[22]

Restructuring in 2023

In November 2023 Road to VR, citing a Reuters report, said Pico was laying off hundreds of staff in its sales, video and platform operations teams, moving its software teams back into ByteDance's wider product development organization and keeping its VR hardware team. Pico confirmed that it was restructuring to focus on hardware and core technologies, and Henry Zhou said that "the VR industry remains in a very early stage."[23] TechCrunch linked the cuts to slow sales and cited a 56% year-on-year fall in China's VR headset shipments in the first half of 2023.[24]

Pico 4 Ultra

Pico opened Chinese pre-orders for the Pico 4 Ultra in August 2024 at 4,300 yuan, with shipping from 2 September 2024. It uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, 2,160 x 2,160 pixels per eye at 90 Hz, two 32-megapixel passthrough cameras, a time-of-flight depth sensor and Wi-Fi 7.[25] Pre-orders in Europe and Asia-Pacific opened on 6 September 2024 and the headset went on sale on 20 September at €600 (£530). Pre-orders included the PICO Motion Trackers, ankle-worn trackers otherwise sold at €90 (£80), and four games. ByteDance told UploadVR it had no plans to launch the Pico 4 Ultra in North America.[6]

Leadership change and Pico Space Pro (2026)

On 2 March 2026 Pico previewed its next flagship headset under the codename Project Swan, together with PICO OS 6. Pico said the headset has micro-OLED displays of about 4,000 pixels per inch, an average of 40 pixels per degree (45 at the peak), and a two-chip design: a main processor with double the CPU and GPU performance of the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 and a Pico-built co-processor for computer vision with about 12 milliseconds of latency.[26]

In July 2026 Henry Zhou stepped down as head of Pico, which reports attributed to personal reasons, and Li Xiaokai took over. Li joined Pico in 2021 at the time of the ByteDance acquisition and had led core product and technology work, including optical displays, chips, sensing and system architecture. ByteDance said the change would not alter Pico's strategy, research and development or product plans.[7][27]

On 19 August 2026 Pico named the headset the Pico Space Pro and scheduled a launch event in Beijing for 2 September.[28] It cancelled that event in late August and moved the release to the fourth quarter of 2026, saying it wanted more time for "a major upgrade to the software experience."[8] In early September 2026 UploadVR reported FCC filings, highly likely to be for the Space Pro, covering a headset and a separate tethered unit that contains a 7,000 mAh (54.32 Wh) battery and Wi-Fi 7.[29]

Platform

Pico's headsets run its own operating system, PICO OS, and use its own app store, the Pico Store. Early models also offered other storefronts: the G2 4K ran HTC's Viveport M alongside Pico's store.[13] In February 2023 MIXED reported that Pico headsets were now fully compatible with the OpenXR standard, covering the Neo 3 Pro and Pro Eye, Neo 3 Link, Pico 4 and Pico 4 Enterprise.[30]

PICO OS 6, shown in March 2026, adds what Pico calls the Pico Spatial Engine, which runs 2D and 3D apps at the same time in a shared space. Pico said it stays compatible with existing Pico 4 Ultra apps and with OpenXR, and that developers can build for it with Android Studio and Kotlin, Unity or Unreal Engine. It also introduced WebSpatial, which Pico describes as an "open, minimal extension to HTML, CSS, and JS" for spatial web apps.[26] TechNode reported that the platform supports Android apps, browsers, 3D content, OpenXR and WebXR.[27]

Devices

The table lists Pico headsets with a page on this wiki, newest first. Dates in the second column are release dates unless stated.

Headset Date Notes
Pico Space Pro Not released; planned for the fourth quarter of 2026 Mixed reality headset previewed as Project Swan in March 2026; launch event cancelled and release delayed in August 2026[8]
Pico 4 Ultra September 2, 2024 (China); September 20, 2024 (Europe and Asia-Pacific) Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, 12 GB RAM, dual 32 MP passthrough cameras; 4,300 yuan in China, €600 in Europe[25][6]
Pico 4 Enterprise Announced October 2022 Business model with eye and face tracking; €900; sold only to registered businesses[22]
Pico 4 October 18, 2022 Pancake lenses, 2,160 x 2,160 per eye, Snapdragon XR2; €430 (128 GB) or €500 (256 GB)[5]
Pico Neo 3 Link May 24, 2022 (Europe, shipping) European consumer model sold as a "beta program"; €449 or £399[20]
Pico Neo 3 Pro Q3 2021 Enterprise model with Snapdragon XR2; US$699; the Neo 3 Pro Eye (US$899) adds Tobii eye tracking[17]
Pico Neo 3 May 10, 2021 (China, scheduled launch) Consumer model for China; Snapdragon XR2 with four tracking cameras[16]
Pico Neo 2 May 27, 2020 Date Pico announced worldwide enterprise shipping; Snapdragon 845; US$699, or US$899 for the Neo 2 Eye[14]
Pico G2 4K 2019 3DoF enterprise headset revealed before CES 2019; Snapdragon 835, 278 g[13]
Pico G2 July 21, 2018 Goblin 2; 3DoF controller, Snapdragon 835, 90 Hz; 2,000 yuan in China[10]
Pico Neo CV 2017
Pico Goblin August 22, 2017 (North America) All-in-one headset with a 3DoF controller; US$269, €299, £269[11][10]

As of September 2026 Pico's business price list shows the Pico 4 Ultra Enterprise at US$850 (12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage) and US$1,199 (16 GB and 256 GB), the Pico G3 (128 GB) at US$480 and the Neo3 at US$580.[31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About PICO - PICO Global". PICO Global. PICO. https://www.picoxr.com/global/about/us. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Pico Technology Co., Ltd. (Pico) Announces Details On Pico Neo, Features First Mass-Produced VR Standalone With 6DoF Head Tracking And 6DoF Controller Tracking". PR Newswire. Pico Technology Co., Ltd.. 2017-12-26. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pico-technology-co-ltd-pico-announces-details-on-pico-neo-features-first-mass-produced-vr-standalone-with-6dof-head-tracking-and-6dof-controller-tracking-300575285.html. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kyt Dotson (2021-08-30). "TikTok owner ByteDance acquires VR headset maker Pico". SiliconANGLE. https://siliconangle.com/2021/08/30/tiktok-owner-bytedance-acquires-vr-headset-maker-pico/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lucas Matney (2021-08-30). "TikTok owner ByteDance buys a top virtual reality hardware startup". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/30/tiktok-owner-bytedance-buys-a-top-virtual-reality-hardware-company/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ben Lang (2022-09-22). "Pico 4 Standalone VR Headset Announced with October Launch, Aims to Compete Head-on with Quest 2". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/pico-4-announcement-release-date-specs-vs-quest-2/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 David Heaney (2024-09-03). "Pico 4 Ultra Launches In Europe On September 20". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-4-ultra-europe-apac-preorders/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sam Sprigg (2026-07-28). "Li Xiaokai Replaces PICO Founder Zhou Hongwei as Business Head". Auganix. https://www.auganix.org/xr-news-pico-management-changes-2026/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Scott Hayden (2026-08-25). "Pico's Vision Pro Competitor Delayed Amid Cancelled September Reveal". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/pico-vision-pro-competitor-delayed-cancelled-event/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Wency Chen (2020-06-28). "This company wants to challenge Facebook's Oculus: Inside China's Startups". KrASIA. https://kr-asia.com/this-company-wants-to-challenge-facebooks-oculus-inside-chinas-startups. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Scott Hayden (2018-08-01). "Pico Raises $24M Series A Funding, Goblin 2 Standalone Headset Announced". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/pico-raises-24m-series-funding-round-goblin-2-standalone-headset-announced/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Pico Goblin All-in-One VR Headset Arrives for Consumers". PR Newswire. Pico Interactive. 2017-08-22. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pico-goblin-all-in-one-vr-headset-arrives-for-consumers-300507500.html. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  12. ↑ Scott Hayden (2018-01-10). "CES 2018: Pico Neo 6DoF Standalone Headset to Bring Viveport Mobile Westward". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/ces-2018-pico-neo-6dof-standalone-viveport-mobile/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Jamie Feltham (2019-01-03). "CES 2019: Pico Reveals Standalone G2 4K VR Headset". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/ces-pico-g2-4k-vr-headset/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Pico Interactive Announces Availability of its Neo 2 and Neo 2 Eye Virtual Reality Headsets". GlobeNewswire. Pico Interactive. 2020-05-27. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/27/2039415/0/en/Pico-Interactive-Announces-Availability-of-its-Neo-2-and-Neo-2-Eye-Virtual-Reality-Headsets.html. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Ding Yi (2021-08-30). "ByteDance Acquires China's Largest Virtual Reality Headset Maker". Caixin Global. https://www.caixinglobal.com/2021-08-30/bytedance-acquires-chinas-largest-virtual-reality-headset-maker-101764003.html. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Scott Hayden (2021-04-13). "Pico Neo 3 Specs Revealed: Snapdragon XR2, Physical IPD Adjustments & More". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/pico-standalone-neo-3-headset-china/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Scott Hayden (2021-10-01). "Pico Launches Neo 3 Pro & Neo 3 Pro Eye, Serving up Strong Competition to Oculus & HTC". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/pico-neo-3-pro-eye-release-date-price/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  18. ↑ Shuyi Pan (2021-08-30). "Pico Confirms Acquisition by ByteDance". EqualOcean. https://equalocean.com/news/2021083016586. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  19. ↑ "Pico's odyssey: ByteDance's grandiose efforts fail to unleash a VR miracle (Part 1 of 4)". KrASIA. 36Kr. 2023-12-01. https://kr-asia.com/picos-odyssey-bytedances-grandiose-efforts-fail-to-unleash-a-vr-miracle-part-1-of-4. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  20. ↑ David Heaney (2022-09-21). "Pico 4 Ships October 18 To Europe, Japan & South Korea For €430". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-4-release-october-18-price/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  21. ↑ 22.0 22.1 David Heaney (2022-10-19). "Pico 4 Enterprise Has Eye Tracking & Face Tracking For €900". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-4-enterprise-announced/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  22. ↑ Scott Hayden (2023-11-07). "Report: Pico to Layoff "hundreds" as Company Shifts Focus to Hardware". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/report-pico-bytedance-layoffs-2023/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  23. ↑ Rita Liao (2023-11-09). "ByteDance's Oculus challenger Pico lays off hundreds, halts aggressive expansion". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/09/bytedances-oculus-challenger-pico-lays-off-hundreds-halts-aggressive-expansion. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  24. ↑ 25.0 25.1 David Heaney (2024-08-20). "Pico 4 Ultra Launches In China With Specs Superior To Quest 3". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-4-ultra-china-launch/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  25. ↑ 26.0 26.1 David Heaney (2026-03-02). "Pico's Next Headset Has 4000 PPI Micro-OLEDs, Powerful New Chip & Next-Gen OS". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-project-swan-official-display-compute-specs-announcement/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  26. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "ByteDance's PICO changes head as it prepares new MR device". TechNode. 2026-07-24. https://technode.com/2026/07/24/bytedances-pico-changes-head-as-it-prepares-new-mr-device/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  27. ↑ Scott Hayden (2026-08-19). "Pico's Vision Pro Competitor Gets Official Name and Debut Date". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/picos-vision-pro-competitor-release-date-pricr-name/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  28. ↑ Luna (2026-09-05). "Pico Space Pro Appears To Receive FCC Certification Following Delay To Q4". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pico-space-pro-appears-to-receive-fcc-certification-following-delay-to-q4/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  29. ↑ Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2023-02-15). "Pico 4 now offers full OpenXR support - Why this is important". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/pico-4-now-offers-full-openxr-support-why-this-is-important/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  30. ↑ "Pricing". PICO Business. PICO. https://business.picoxr.com/global/pricing. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
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