Meta's Project Phoenix just leaked, and it looks nothing like a Quest

Meta Connect kicks off on September 23, and we may have just gotten an early peek at one of the more interesting devices Meta could be preparing to talk about. UploadVR has spotted images of Meta’s rumored Project Phoenix headset inside the HorizonOS Prescription Lens app. While they don’t show the full device, they reveal enough to suggest Phoenix won’t be another Quest-style headset.

Instead, Meta appears to be going for something much slimmer. From the angles shown, Phoenix looks more like chunky glasses than a conventional VR headset. Nose pads hold the device in place, while what appear to be sensors sit around the temples. The overall look immediately reminds me of XREAL Aura glasses, which use a similar setup.

Personally, I’m particularly curious about those nose pads. If you’ve ever worn a bulky headset for a long session, you’ll know how annoying pressure around your face can get. Phoenix’s approach looks much closer to how regular glasses rest on your nose, which could potentially make it easier to wear for longer periods.

One big piece of the puzzle is still missing, though: we don’t really get a proper front-facing look at the glasses. Most of what we’ve seen shows Phoenix from the side or rear, so it’s difficult to tell how large the lenses are, how thick the frame looks, or, perhaps most importantly, what this thing will actually look like when someone is wearing it. The images make Phoenix look impressively slim from certain angles, but I’d like to see it head-on before judging the design.

Another image offers a clue about how Meta may be keeping the headset relatively compact. It shows a cable running from the left temple, connecting Phoenix to a separate compute puck. That could let Meta move some of the hardware you’d normally expect inside a headset elsewhere. The prescription lens app also appears to show a QR code being presented to the device, which could point to a relatively straightforward setup process.

There’s still plenty we don’t know about Phoenix, including what Meta ultimately intends people to use it for. However, the headset is expected to lean heavily on eye and hand interactions, and with Meta Connect now just days away, there’s a good chance we’ll learn a lot more very soon.