Meta may have leaked the first look at its slim ‘Project Phoenix’ headset

Images posted by UploadVR and said to have been pulled from a HorizonOS Prescription Lens firmware package appear to show the design for Meta’s so-called Project Phoenix headset. The renders portray a slim, glasses-like frame that houses lenses rather than the bulkier visor commonly associated with full VR headsets. The leaked shots include a rear view showing a cable running from one earpiece, which could indicate an external battery or a separate compute module wired to the frames. The earpieces also seem to include both outward- and downward-facing cameras, suggesting mixed-reality sensing capabilities built into the arms of the device. The form factor implied by the images would place Project Phoenix between compact AI smart glasses such as Meta’s own Ray-Ban AI and larger headsets like the Quest 3. That is similar to products from companies like Xreal and Viture, which produce mixed-reality glasses that are slimmer than full headsets but thicker than typical smart spectacles. Meta has reportedly been developing Project Phoenix for some time, and the device is not expected to launch until next year. Google is also said to be working on a comparable design, Project Aura XR, which similarly uses an external compute puck wired to the frames, indicating broader industry interest in this intermediate XR form factor.