Some Pico 4 preorders in Europe will be delayed, Pico says.

The standalone VR headset is set to launch on Tuesday, October 18th in Europe, Japan & South Korea for €429, and is already available in China. The ByteDance-owned company blamed “unprecedented global demand”, saying it’s “working tirelessly” to ensure that preorders are shipped by the end of October.

The “global demand” comment is interesting phrasing, given it only said some European preorders will be delayed. Does it imply the company will prioritize deliveries in Asia?

Pico 4 is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor used in Meta Quest 2, but it promises a range of significant improvements: a slimmer & lighter design, higher resolution, wider & taller field of view, color passthrough, precise motorized lens separation, and improved controllers.

The slimmer & lighter design is achieved through the use of pancake lenses – which support smaller panels with a shorter gap to the lenses – and the battery being in the rear of the strap rather than the visor.

Developers of non-exclusive Quest content have been porting their titles to Pico’s store, including Blade & Sorcery Nomad, Eleven Table Tennis, Walkabout Mini Golf, Superhot VR, Green Hell, Demeo, Space Pirate Trainer, After The Fall, and GORN. Pico also announced its first exclusive of its own, Just Dance VR.

We have hands-on impressions of Pico 4 from our brief time with it at Gamescom, and we plan to bring you a full review next week as it launches.

David Heaney

Writes about VR & AR technology news & industry trends.

Usually on VR Download.