Meta is in an odd position right now, where VR is concerned. It's coming off the back of a number of years of hardware dominance, in which its Quest headsets have been clearly the most mass-appealing way to get into VR.
Its latest launch, the Quest 3S, nabbed a five-star verdict from yours truly when I tested it at the beginning of 2025, after all – but the last few months have been turbulent. While it's adamant in public that it's not pulling back from VR, Meta has nonetheless slashed a number of studios working on software for the headset, including games.
Still, that doesn't mean the hardware conveyor belt is static. There's almost no doubt we will get more Quest devices down the line, and the rumours and leaks indicate that at least one of these could be way smaller than you might think (with a major asterisk).
The headset is reportedly codenamed Phoenix, and this week a couple of prominent leakers have uploaded mock-ups of what it might look like. One shows the headset itself in comparison to the Quest 3, and the other shows the battery pack that will partly explain how the headset's so small.
Meta Proj. Phoenix (aka Loma, Puffin)I’ve seen development units of Meta’s premium lightweight VR HMD, planned for H1 2027.This mock-up/sketch is based on what I've seen, alongside Quest Pro for comparison. Note that Phoenix also has an external puck that is not pictured. pic.twitter.com/pQlD6Mqw45January 1, 2026
First look at the compute unit for Meta's 2027 Project Phoenix VR glasses!I modeled this based on physical prototypes I’ve seen. Note the waistband clip and the cooling exhaust on top. The design will likely change, but this represents some variants currently being tested. https://t.co/M0KgoTPlEU pic.twitter.com/IJPszfLfJgFebruary 6, 2026
If these mock-ups are accurate, the Meta Phoenix headset could be unlike anything else out there right now. It looks like an honest-to-goodness cross between a VR headset like the Quest 3S and some AR smart glasses, able to be worn far more comfortably and with lighter weight.
It'll of course also apparently be tethered to a battery pack, one with a clip designed for waistbands. That's reminiscent of far more expensive XR options like the Apple Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR, both of which outsource the battery away from the headset to keep it comfortable.
It'll be fascinating to see if we get any noise from Meta about this device any time soon, and not just so we can see if these leaks are accurate (since the leakers claim to have seen physical prototypes).
We normally only get product announcements from Meta at the annual Meta Connect event, and the next iteration of that isn't due until October this year. That sets us up for a long wait in the meantime, although the expectation and leaks indicate there will be a more normal Quest VR headset to accompany Phoenix, too.
Who knows, though – perhaps that time will help Meta to figure out a more elegant solution for its battery aims than a tethered one. That approach has always felt like a bit of a cop-out to me, and undermines the slickness of given headsets pretty noticeably.
