Meta Project Phoenix Headset Images Surface in Horizon OS Firmware Ahead of Connect 2026

Clear images of a new Meta headset codenamed Project Phoenix have appeared in Horizon OS firmware. Developers found the images in an update package for a free app called HorizonOS Prescription Lens. The app launched in August 2026, initially to test how users pair prescription lenses with a new device. A September 2026 update added a set of animations showing users installing and removing prescription lenses and having the headset scan a QR code on the lenses.

The images show Project Phoenix with a thin, glasses-like frame, without the full face mask and facial cushion common to the Quest series, resting on the user's face via adjustable nose pads. Multiple cameras or sensors are arranged along the side and bottom of the temples. In a rear-view image, a cable extends from the end of the left temple to an external compute module. Unlike the Orion optical see-through AR glasses Meta previously demonstrated, the device uses an opaque display and presents the real world through external cameras, making it a mixed reality headset.

In February 2026, developers found a vector outline and low-resolution images of Project Phoenix in a Meta eye-tracking onboarding program. Blurry renders labeled PHX appeared in a software package updated in July 2026. Meta's software code also contains hardware configurations for the Phoenix platform, eye- and face-tracking parameters, and retail pages offering prescription lens options and calibration. Some pages initially used the name Loma, which was later replaced with Pegasus.

Meta Connect 2026 will be held on September 23 and 24, 2026. The company's published agenda includes a session titled A Practical Guide to Controller-Free Interaction. An internal Meta memo made public in December 2025 showed the company pushed the Phoenix launch from the second half of 2026 to the first half of 2027. Meta has not publicly responded to the firmware images. Andrew Bosworth has confirmed that the company is developing multiple next-generation XR device projects.