The recent leaks of the Pico 4S, a new VR headset from ByteDance, have added to the growing number of rumors and reports about the device over the past year. Multiple official-looking renders of the headset and its carrying case have surfaced, thanks to reliable tech leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, known as OnLeaks.
These images show a headset that closely resembles the current Pico 4 model, with the main difference being the inclusion of two passthrough cameras on the front, a feature hinted at in previous leaks on Chinese social media.
The timing of these leaks is particularly notable, as they come just days before ByteDance is set to host a product launch event on August 20. The company has hinted through social media that this event will likely introduce a new headset.
This aligns with previous reports and leaks suggesting that Pico has been working on a new version of their VR headset, rather than a completely new model following the reported cancellation of the Pico 5.
Rumors about the Pico 4S began circulating as early as September of the previous year, when images of new ringless controllers appeared on Chinese social media. Further reports from December indicated that ByteDance decided to cancel the Pico 5 due to disappointing sales of the Pico 4 and instead opted to refresh the Pico 4.
This strategy was reinforced in March when the company trademarked “Pico 4S,” and more evidence emerged, such as the discovery of icons for ringless controllers in Pico’s VR streaming software.
Additional details about the Pico 4S emerged in June through a Geekbench result, which suggested that the headset would be powered by the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, the same one used in Meta Quest 3, but with an upgraded 12GB of RAM compared to the Quest 3’s 8GB.
Further validation came when South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency (RRA) certified a new Pico headset with 6GHz Wi-Fi support, indicating the inclusion of either Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.
With the official launch event just around the corner, interest in the Pico 4S continues to build. As more leaks and details are expected to surface in the coming weeks, ByteDance’s August 20 event is highly anticipated, where full details about the Pico 4S will likely be revealed.
