Meta’s leaked VR headset looks to be everything I’ve wanted since it made the Meta Quest Pro

Meta Join 2026 is quick approaching, and it appears an enormous shock {hardware} announcement has simply been leaked — by none apart from Meta itself. It’s not a lot however our first official have a look at the so-called Undertaking Phoenix has me very excited that we would lastly get the Meta Quest Professional successor I’ve been begging for.

The leak was noticed by prolific Meta leaker Luna, who discovered a never-before-seen headset within the newest Horizon OS prescription lens firmware. As a result of it solely reveals how lenses are inserted into the brand new design, we don’t get a full have a look at the entire thing, nevertheless it appears XR glasses is perhaps a greater description than XR headset.

That’s as a result of the entrance of the headset seems to be extremely slim. Not fairly Meta Ray-Ban ranges, however a fraction of what the Meta Quest 3 and 3S had been thickness sensible. There additionally seems to be no head strap. As an alternative, we see the show unit supported by glasses’ stems sitting behind the ears of the wearer.

What this leak seemingly confirms is the rumors that Meta has been engaged on an ultra-lightweight headset design. One the place the battery and a piece of the processing energy are all moved to an exterior puck — one thing additionally teased by a cable we see extending from one of many Meta machine’s stems.

After all we must always take all leaks and hypothesis with a pinch of salt, nonetheless contemplating some particulars at the moment are coming straight from Meta itself, I think this can be a case of the place if there’s smoke there’s fireplace.

In that case, I couldn’t be extra excited. Following the disappointing begin to VR in 2026, this launch would possibly turns issues round (not less than considerably).

What I have been ready for

XR {hardware} housing its battery in an exterior puck is nothing new; nonetheless, shifting processing energy in there too is much much less widespread — the one one I’ve skilled is Xreal’s Aura glasses, though it works incredibly well.

By taking as much as possible out of the headset, you can significantly drop the weight of the machine, and, because you’re tethered to something in your pocket, your movement won’t be restricted as it can be when you’re connected to a PC or console.

This makes something capable, comfortable, and somewhat mobile. That said, it seems Phoenix will still be more headset-like than glasses-like, so I’m not sure I see myself exploring the outside world while wearing it.

For gaming and entertainment, there are other specs to consider (such as processing power, display quality, and content support), but where this design wins out is for productivity.

I’ve tried spending entire working weeks immersed in XR and my tests have proven it’s incredibly uncomfortable. It’s fine for a few hours at a time, maybe for the one-off day, but not for eight hours a day five days straight. That’s nightmarish.

But the lightest model I’ve tried is the 545g Samsung Galaxy XR. If Meta’s headset can drop to 200g or less, then it could easily be something I wear for a whole day. Plus it would be super easy to slip into my rucksack to be productive in XR on the go — or kick back with a big-screen movie.

This is precisely why I’ve been wanting an ultra-lightweight XR headset to enter the scene, but so far I’ve been let down. Xreal Aura gets close, but as glasses, it doesn’t boast the same field of view as a headset — with a headset offering more virtual real estate for app windows.

All I need is for Meta’s headset to copy the Xreal Aura’s ability to show what’s on my phone screen via a USB-C cable and it could be the perfect XR headset (provided the price isn’t too high).

We’ll have to wait and see what Meta unveils at Connect, but September 23, 2026, can’t come soon enough.

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