According to a respected analyst, Chinese VR company ByteDancer are set to shake up the headset market, and provide real competition to the Quest 2, and as early as next month. Not only will their next generation Pico headset – the ‘Pico 4’ – have higher specifications than the Meta Quest 2, but it will be similarly subsidised at an affordable price. With Meta recently having to increase the price of their own market dominant headset, due to rising costs, and with the Quest 3 headset not expected to be released until late 2023, this news comes at the worst possible time for Mark Zuckerberg. But what will it all mean for VR porn?
**UPDATE – Check out the best VR and AR porn sites for the Pico 4 headset!
The VR porn industry was in the doldrums until the Oculus Quest 2 arrived in October of 2020. The cheap, but powerful headset was an instant hit, with specifications comparable to the very best tethered PC headsets. The top VR porn studios soon upgraded their camera systems and began filming in 7K or 8K resolution, allowing their movies to make the most of the ultra-hd lenses of the new headset. You can see the impact of the Oculus Quest 2 on Google search interest for ‘VR porn’ in the graph below.
As you can see, search interest in VR porn reached its lowest point just when the Oculus Quest 2 hit the market (marked by an arrow). Almost immediately, interest steadily increased, spiked for Xmas 2020, showed a marked year on year increase throughout 2021, and then spiked even more during the last holiday season (fuelled by hype over ‘the metaverse’). Since then, interest has declined, even to a slightly lower level than this time last year. This is hardly surprising, as there has been no new major headset released by any company since the Oculus Quest 2 itself, almost 2 years ago. That is all about to change with the release of the Pico 4.
It should be noted that nothing is official about the Pico 4, not even the release date, let alone the specifications. But if the leaked specs prove to be accurate, then the Meta Quest 2 has indeed got some stiff competition on its way as the number 1 VR porn headset. The Pico 4 looks set to blow the Quest 2 out of the water, in just about every regard. Anticipated to feature a thinner ‘pancake lens’, which will make the device lighter and more comfortable, as well as having a sharper screen. Indeed, as you can see from the comparison table below, the resolution of the new Pico is quite a jump up from that of the Quest 2. It should be able to play VR porn movies at a resolution greater than 9K (the Quest 2 can play almost 8K, and the highest resolution of the leading studios is 7 or 8K). As well as a superior screen, the FOV is expected to be slightly greater too.
Another important upgrade over the Quest 2 is full-color passthrough. We’ve seen already how exciting and popular, AR ‘passthrough’ porn is becoming on the Quest 2, despite that headset only having crude low resolution B&W passthrough. Whilst the forthcoming Project Cambria (expected to be named the Quest 2 Pro) will have color passthrough, that headset is going to be a lot more expensive than either the Quest 2 or the Pico 4. On top of all the superior specs of the Pico 4, it is going to be subsidized by their parent company (ByteDance, who also own TikTok), just as the Quest 2 has been. Furthermore, it will be released alongside a Pico 4 Pro version, that will feature both eye and face tracking, similar to Project Cambria. The only real advantage that the Quest 2 will retain over the new Pico headset, is in its greater ecosystem of games and applications. But that hardly matters, if your number 1 priority is to experience VR porn with it.
