Meta's Next Headset Leaked — It's Not a Quest

Meta's next VR headset just outed itself, and it didn't even have the decency to wait for a keynote. Buried in Quest firmware, dataminers found "Project Phoenix" — a slim, glasses-style mixed reality headset that looks nothing like the face-brick you're wearing right now. Meta finally listened to the one complaint everyone's had since 2019: nobody wants to look like a cyborg at brunch.

The Project Phoenix render pulled from firmware — glasses-style with magnetic lens rings, no chunky visor

The first clear visuals broke via UploadVR: no big visor, no chunky strap, just a sleek profile that reads "wearable" instead of "welded on." That's the whole pitch — full mixed reality in a form factor you'd actually wear in public. Skeptical? Fair. Meta has promised exactly this for years.

Smart glasses are already on real faces — Phoenix would push full mixed reality into that same face-forward form factor

Meanwhile, the counter-programming already exists: an app called Zuckoff that detects nearby Meta camera glasses, because apparently we've reached the point where your phone needs a Meta detector. Privacy theater from the same company selling the cameras. You can't make this up.

▶️ Watch the full breakdown in the video below.

Source: The Verge{target="_blank" rel="noopener"} · First visuals via UploadVR