Bigscreen Reveals New Halo Strap Design for ‘Beyond 2’ PC VR Headset, Shipping Starts in June

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Bigscreen has revealed a major redesign to Bigscreen Beyond 2’s long-promised halo headstrap mount, which the company says will begin shipping out starting in June.

After months of waiting, Bigscreen has finally shown off the long-awaited Halo Mount for Beyond 2 and 2e, its thin and light PC VR headset which shipped in March 2025.

According to a company blog post, improvements over the old Halo Mount design include a new clip-on mechanism which requires no adhesives, as well as support for third-party accessories thanks to an M3 brass-threaded screw hole for mods.

It also features an improved flip-up mechanism, extra USB extension for better cable travel, and easier vertical adjustment for better forehead positioning, the company says.

Bigscreen’s newly redesigned Halo Mount | Image courtesy Bigscreen

“After a year of iterating on prototypes, we built the first production versions of the Halo Mount last year,” Bigscreen explains. “The early units (commonly known as “DVTs”) met most but not all of our goals. We shipped these DVTs to customers for testing and received both positive and negative feedback.”

Then, in December, the company says it made the call at “a very significant financial cost” to delay the Halo Mount’s mass production due to negative feedback from testers, which prompted the company to go back to the drawing board. See the previous Halo Mount design below:

Bigscreen’s previous Halo Mount design | Image courtesy Bigscreen

Now, Bigscreen says it’s aiming to ship a “small volume” first batch in June, with a greater run of 10,000 units starting in July. The Halo Mount is currently available for pre-order, priced at $180/€169.

“Due to the large volume of demand for the Halo Mount, it will take a couple of months to complete all Halo Mount preorders,” Bigscreen says. “We expect to achieve this goal by the end of the summer, and will have sufficient inventory for fast shipping thereafter.”

Notably, Bigscreen’s Halo Mount can be used with any Beyond strap, including the supplied Soft Strap, optional Audio Strap, as well as third-party modded straps, such as Apple Vision Pro’s Knit Band.

Bigscreen’s newly redesigned Halo Mount | Image courtesy Bigscreen

Additionally, it can be used with all facial interfaces offered by Bigscreen, including the Custom-Fit Cushion and the Universal-Fit Cushion, as well as without a cushion for greater peripheral vision.

As a part of the update, the company also announced that Beyond 2 and Beyond 2e orders are generally shipping within 1–3 business days, with most Universal-Fit configurations sometimes shipping the same day, following major improvements in production and logistics.

Due to recent supply chain disruptions linked to Middle East conflicts and rising air freight costs, which the company says has caused temporary shortages of the Crystal Clear Beyond 2e and Universal-Fit Cushions, shipping times for those units have been delayed by 2–4 weeks.

Bigscreen says these issues are being resolved and expects normal shipping speeds to resume by late April.

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Monkeys Navigate Virtual Worlds Using Thought Alone in New BCI Study

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University researchers at KU Leuven in Belgium have shown that monkeys can navigate complex virtual environments using a brain-computer interface (BCI) setup, which remarkably involves relatively little user training.

As reported in New Scientist, three rhesus macaques were implanted with Utah array BCI devices containing 96 electrodes in each of three brain regions: the primary motor cortex and the dorsal and ventral premotor cortices.

While the primary motor cortex is involved in voluntary movement, a region of the brain Elon Musk’s Neuralink taps into through its various animal research models and recent human clinical trials, the premotor cortices are thought to be dedicated to planning, organizing, and initiating those movements.

Image courtesy Peter Janssen et al

The key innovation isn’t the hardware itself though, as Utah arrays are widely used in research when reading neuronal activity, but rather the method the study goes about decoding that information, and making it actionable in 3D environments.

In the study, which was lead by KU Leuven’s Peter Janssen, the rhesus macaques were initially trained once from a short passive observation phase, and then were given a variety of virtual tasks while wearing 3D shutter glasses and monitor with stereoscopic images. Tasks included moving various objects in a virtual space, including a sphere, a monkey avatar, and even themselves via a first-person perspective.

Image courtesy Peter Janssen et al

As noted by New Scientist, many previous human trials involve asking people to actively think of a physical movement, like raising or lowering a finger to move a cursor on a screen, which is then translated to on-screen movement. Janssen believes however the study’s specific placement of the BCI has accessed what could be a more intuitive connection to movement, potentially requiring less training.

“We cannot ask these monkeys, of course, but we just think that it’s a more intuitive way of controlling an a computer, basically,” Janssen tells New Scientist, who notes that current methods can feel as foreign to implant recipients as “trying to move your ears.”

While the study hopes to pave the way for similar results in humans, which could unlock things like controlling electric wheelchairs, Janssen also believes it could allow people with paralysis to intuitively navigate virtual worlds.

“There’s a bit of work necessary to know exactly where to implant a human because a lot of these areas are not very well known in humans, where they are exactly,” Janssen says. “But once we figure that out, it should be possible. It should actually be easier because you can explain to the human what they are supposed to do.”

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Meta is Raising Quest 3 and Quest 3S Prices Amid Memory Cost Surge

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Meta announced it’s hiking prices for both Quest 3 and Quest 3S headsets, which includes both new and refurbished units, as the company cites the global surge in the price of memory as a main factor.

Starting on April 19th, US-based consumers will see both Quest 3S variants (128 GB and 256 GB) bumped up by $50 respectively, while the 512GB variant of Meta’s Quest 3 flagship headset will go up by $100. Here’s the new pricing below:

• Quest 3S (128 GB): $350
• Quest 3S (256 GB): $450
• Quest 3 (512 GB): $600

For clarity, Quest 3 is currently priced at $500 for the 512GB variant, while Quest 3S is priced at $300 for 128GB and $400 for the 256GB versions. You’ll find the new international pricing tiers at the bottom of this article.

“We’re making this change because the cost of building high-performance VR hardware has risen significantly,” Meta says in a blog post. “The global surge in the price of critical components—specifically memory chips—is impacting almost every category of consumer electronics, including VR. To keep delivering the quality of hardware, software, and support you expect from the Quest platform, we need to adjust our pricing.”

Image courtesy Redditor Vast_Front259

Meta says it’s also updating pricing for refurbished Quest units, although the company hasn’t said by how much just yet. Meta further said Quest accessories will stay at their current prices, ostensibly because they don’t include either RAM or SSD, which have recently seen massive memory price increases relative to years prior.

This isn’t the first time Meta has hiked prices for Quest. In 2022, the company raised the price of Quest 2 by $100 just months after launch, citing similar pressures around rising production and component costs—before later reversing the increase as market conditions stabilized.

Notably, Valve may have found itself in a similar bind resultant from the memory crisis, as the company announced in February it had to revise both price and release date of its upcoming Steam Frame VR headset—still slated to release in the first half of 2026.

Valve Steam Frame | Photo by Road to VR

While regrettable on its own, the Quest pricing increase also follows a wider shift at the company’s Reality Labs XR division, which recently saw layoffs affecting 10 percent of staff in addition to the closure of three first-party XR studios which resulted in multiple game cancellations.

Additionally, Meta announced last month it’s decoupling new Horizon Worlds builds from working on its VR headsets, making the social VR platform essentially a mobile-focused platform moving forward.

Virtual woes notwithstanding, Meta says in the blog post it “remains committed to investing in VR and leading the category because we believe this is the future of computing. We have a long-term roadmap full of new hardware and experiences, and this adjustment helps us stay on track to deliver that future.”

The company previously said that, despite the shift, it’s still funding third-party titles in addition to its current plans to release two new VR headsets—a possible successor to Quest 3 as well as a thin and light headset that tethers to a compute puck.

The new international pricing scheme for Quest 3 and Quest 3S follows below:

Image courtesy Meta

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Enter for Your Chance to Win a Free Pass to the Biggest XR Event of the Year

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AWE USA 2026 is returning to Long Beach, CA on June 15–18. As the event’s Premiere Media Partner, we’re excited to give our readers the opportunity to win one of several free passes.

AWE USA is our ‘must-go’ annual XR event. This year’s rendition is expected to draw more than 5,000 attendees, 3,250 exhibitors, 400 speakers, and will feature a 150,000 sqft expo floor.

We’re giving away several General Admission passes which offer access to all four days of the event, including talks, panels, and the expo floor.

To enter for a chance to win a free General admission pass to AWE USA 2026, join our Daily Roundup Newsletter below (even if you’re already a subscriber!).

By submitting the form above, you agree to allow us to send you the Daily Roundup Newsletter and communications about AWE events. You may alternatively enter to win a pass by emailing AWEUSA2026@roadtovr.com with the subject line “Entry”. Only one submission per entrant will be considered. Winners will be selected randomly and notified via the email they signed up with. Passes are non-transferrable and non-refundable.

If you represent a company, you can get an exclusive 10% discount on exhibition or sponsorship packages at AWE USA 2026 for being a Road to VR reader.

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Snap Confirms Mass Layoffs Ahead of Next-gen ‘Specs’ AR Glasses Rollout

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Snap is laying off around 1,000 employees, the Snapchat parent confirmed today. Specs Inc., its recently formed AR glasses subsidiary, is reportedly not being affected, however, as the cuts are aimed at further insulating the traditional Snapchat business from its new AR subsidiary.

Spiegel announced the news in an internal memo, published by Business Insider, which is confirmed to affect 1,000 team members, including 16% of Snap’s full-time employees. Spiegel also confirmed Snap has now closed more than 300 open roles.

“Last fall, I described Snap as facing a crucible moment, requiring a new way of working that is faster and more efficient, while pivoting towards profitable growth,” Spiegel says in the memo. “Over the past several months, we have carefully reviewed the work required to best serve our community and partners, and made tough choices to prioritize the investments we believe are most likely to create long-term value. As a result of these changes, we expect to reduce our annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, helping to establish a clearer path to net-income profitability.”

Snap Spectacles (gen 5) | Image courtesy Snap Inc

While Spiegel hasn’t confirmed the fate of Specs Inc. specifically, according to a report by Alex Heath’s Sources the company’s AR glasses subsidiary is slated to actually add employees ahead of launch of its sixth-gen Specs AR glasses, which is expected sometime this fall.

The report further maintains Snap was unable to secure a proposed $1 billion to fund its Specs division, although the company is still hoping to raise capital once its AR glasses release.

The next-gen Specs AR glasses are slated to be revealed “in the next couple of months, loosely modeled on Apple’s Vision Pro rollout, followed by a consumer release in the fall,” Heath writes.

The comes weeks after Irenic Capital Management, which holds economic interest of about 2.5% in Snap, put pressure on the company to either spin off ​or shut down Specs Inc.

According to a Reuters last month, the activist investor also called on Snap to consider cutting costs through layoffs and to buy back more discounted stock, among other moves, which at the time of this writing seems to be the course the company has taken.

This follows recent news that Specs Inc. and chip maker Qualcomm have signed a multi-year partnership for Snap’s upcoming AR glasses, with Qualcomm pledging Snapdragon chips for future iterations—seemingly signaling confidence that Snap is betting on the success of Specs.

Read the full memo from Snap CEO Evan Spiegel below, courtesy Business Insider:

Dear Team,

Today we are announcing changes that will impact approximately 1,000 team members at Snap, including 16% of our full time employees, in addition to closing more than 300 open roles. This is an incredibly difficult decision, and I am deeply sorry to the colleagues who will be leaving us. You have made important contributions to Snap, and we are committed to supporting you through this transition.

Last fall, I described Snap as facing a crucible moment, requiring a new way of working that is faster and more efficient, while pivoting towards profitable growth. Over the past several months, we have carefully reviewed the work required to best serve our community and partners, and made tough choices to prioritize the investments we believe are most likely to create long-term value. As a result of these changes, we expect to reduce our annualized cost base by more than $500 million by the second half of 2026, helping to establish a clearer path to net-income profitability.

While these changes are necessary to realize Snap’s long-term potential, we believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers. We have already witnessed small squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives, including Snapchat+, enhanced ad platform performance, and efficiency improvements in our Snap Lite infrastructure.

If you are part of our North America team, please work from home today. In the US, impacted team members will receive an email notification within the next hour, including information about next steps. For non-US locations, you will receive additional details about next steps from leadership and HR.

To our departing colleagues: thank you. Your hard work has helped shape Snap, and we are deeply grateful for your contributions. For U.S.-based team members who are leaving, we will provide four months of severance, healthcare coverage, and equity vesting, along with career transition support.

Outside the U.S., we will follow local processes and seek to provide comparable support aligned with local norms.

To everyone continuing on this journey: change of this magnitude and at this speed is never easy and it will not be seamless. Thank you for your resilience, compassion, and commitment to one another, and to the community and partners we serve. Our responsibility is to move forward with clarity, empathy, and determination as we build a faster, stronger, and more durable Snap for the long term.

Evan

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Meta’s Reported Plan to Add Facial Recognition to Smart Glasses Slammed by ACLU-led Coalition

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An ACLU-led coalition representing more than 70 civil liberties advocacy groups are pushing back against Meta’s reported plans to bring facial recognition to its smart glasses.

The New York Times initially reported in February that Meta is currently exploring who should be recognizable through its smart glasses, as the company ostensibly hopes to bring some form of facial recognition to Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses.

According to the NYT report, possible options include “recognizing people a user knows because they are connected on a Meta platform, and identifying people whom the user may not know but who have a public account on a Meta site like Instagram.”

Now, as reported by Wired, an ACLU-led coalition hopes to oppose those plans, which the group says could turn Meta’s smart glasses into ad hoc “surveillance glasses,” capable of endangering consumers and vulnerable communities, and broadly undermining civil rights and civil liberties.

Ray-Ban Meta ‘Scriber’ model | Image courtesy Meta, EssilorLuxottica

The group, which also includes the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), Fight for the Future, Access Now, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday urging the company to stop and publicly disavow its plans.

“People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear that stalkers, scammers, abusers, federal agents, and activists across the political spectrum are silently and invisibly verifying their identities and potentially matching their names to a wealth of readily available data about their habits, hobbies, relationships, health, and behaviors,” the letter reads.

Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses & Neural Band | Image courtesy Meta

“It isn’t hard to see how easily this technology could be abused by corporations, private individuals, and the government to target immigrants, LGBTQIA+ people, and other vulnerable groups,” an ACLU petition adds. “It also puts domestic violence and stalking survivors at risk and could even be used to go after protestors or people who criticize the government.”

Meta has bowed to public pressure before, albeit after years of costly litigation. As mentioned by Wired, in November 2021 the company ended Facebook’s photo-tagging system and said it would delete the facial recognition templates of more than a billion users, which at the time was called “a company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products.”

Neither Meta, nor its hardware partner EssilorLuxottica responded to Wired’s request for comment.

This follows news in February that Meta’s smart glasses partner EssilorLuxottica sold over seven million smart glasses in 2025 alone; that year the companies not only shipped a hardware refresh of Ray-Ban Meta, but also Oakley Meta HSTN, Oakley Meta Vanguard, and the $800 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses—the company’s first smart glasses to include a heads-up display.

It’s not just Meta making smart glasses though. Meanwhile, a rash of competitors are currently preparing their own smart glasses for consumer release; Google, Samsung and Amazon have all announced their own devices, while Apple is also reportedly developing multiple pairs.

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One of VR’s Most Modular Headsets Gets a Little Less Modular Following Key Component Switch

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Pimax recently announced it was being forced to change a key component in all Crystal Super PC VR headsets and display accessories moving forward, effectively making one of VR’s most modular headsets decidedly less so.

The News

Crystal Super is renowned for being highly modular thanks to its ability to swap optical engines, which includes a 50 PPD, 57 PPD, micro-OLED, and ultrawide (140° FOV) modules.

Launched just last year, Crystal Super initially shipped with a custom 70-pin connector, which married up to all of those accessories on offer. Simply swap out a module, and you suddenly have a PC VR headset with a higher pixel density, better clarity, or wider field-of-view.

Now, Pimax says in a blog post its supplier for those 70-pin connectors is discontinuing the part, which has left the company in the lurch, forcing it to change the key component that made its optical display ecosystem so modular in the first place.

Pimax Crystal Super Optical Engine | Image courtesy Pimax

In the blog post, Pimax says it’s now allocated “all remaining stock of this connector to the Crystal Super to ensure compatibility with all optical engine variants,” noting that there will now be two (incompatible) variants of the Crystal Super in production and circulation.

Pimax says it’s going to ameliorate this by matching headsets and optical engines at the time of purchase, which it’s doing both from the factory with full kits and by matching user-provided headset serial numbers when headset owners return to buy single modules.

While Pimax bought all of the last remaining stock of those original 70-pin connectors and maintains it has “ample inventory”, it’s admittedly a number that will only get smaller. Pimax’s Head of Communication Jaap Grolleman is optimistic though that supplies will last.

“Based on previous headset sales and survey data (and sales estimations), we think we have enough stock to supply current (70-pin) Crystal Super owners with matching optical engines throughout their product lifetime,” Jaap Grolleman tells Road to VR.

Pimax Crystal Super | Image courtesy Pimax

“This was also one of the reasons why we delayed the Crystal Super Lighthouse, as that model swapped the 70-pin for a USB-C connector—and it’s also one of the reasons that now new Crystal Super headsets are produced with the new pin; to keep enough stock of the 70-pin for optical engine production for those owners,” Grolleman says.

A very real wrinkle in all of this: there’s no visual indicator of which pin style you might have just by looking at it, which puts the onus entirely on the user. Although Pimax’s solution is to simply provide the headset’s serial number when ordering directly from the company, that makes buying on the secondhand market a bit more tricky.

“There is no visual difference (and no performance difference), although the pins have a different width. Telling them apart is very difficult for users unless the optical engines are directly compared side by side,” Grolleman says.

Image courtesy Pimax

Notably, Pimax says you can contact them when encountering compatibility issues with secondhand modules, although that’s going to have to be after the fact since it’s so difficult to tell between the two. Pimax hasn’t said whether more modular optical engines are on the way besides the ones already released.

That said, the pin connector switch is not entirely out of the blue, as the company warned users late last year that sourcing the 70-pin connector could be an issue. Still, Grolleman says around 10 to 20 optical engines with the new connector pin were shipped prior to the company’s announcement, which was released on Monday.

“We knew this change would come in the future, but with multiple teams working in parallel, there was an information gap and the first batch had already been shipped out. We’ll do an internal review, and we’ll also contact these users as soon as possible,” Grolleman says.

My Take

The question isn’t whether this all leads to fragmentation, resale risk, or consumer confusion for Crystal Super, because it plainly does. It’s whether Pimax users are willing to continue to invest in a modular ecosystem that’s been so uncomfortably split mid-generation.

I can’t answer that question for you, although I can highlight this: we don’t know whether the company has plans for more optical engines, which could make issues worse for users with a 70-pin connector headset, as it will strain supplies even further. We also don’t know how long the company expects to produce Crystal Super before it goes onto its next big gamble. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Pimax over the past decade, there’s always something new on the horizon.

Which is weird. If any other company absolutely borked sourcing a key component like Pimax did with its linchpin connector—undoubtedly putting a big asterisk next to the word “modular” when talking about Crystal Super—it would be a serious sign that something is wrong. But for Pimax, these sort of perpetual teething issues just seems like the price of innovation. So, I just can’t say I’m surprised.

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