What’s the story?
PICO has undergone a leadership change, with founder Zhou Hongwei stepping down and Li Xiaokai assuming responsibility for the ByteDance-owned XR business.
Why it matters
Li will be responsible for advancing Project Swan and PICO OS 6, making the leadership change directly relevant to PICO’s upcoming product plans.
The bigger picture
Despite the leadership change, ByteDance insiders said the company’s view of XR’s long-term value remains unchanged and that it will continue supporting PICO’s technology and product development.
July 28, 2026 – PICO founder Zhou Hongwei has stepped down as head of the ByteDance-owned extended reality (XR) business, with Li Xiaokai taking over responsibility for PICO, according to a recent Chinese-language report published by tech outlet 36Kr.
According to the outlet, the management change was attributed to personal reasons. PICO reportedly confirmed Zhou’s departure in an internal notice. The report also noted that the transition is not expected to change the company’s established strategic direction, research and development work, or product plans.
ByteDance insiders also stated that the company’s assessment of XR’s long-term value remained unchanged and that it would continue supporting PICO’s core technology exploration and product innovation, according to the report.
Li joined PICO in 2021 following ByteDance’s acquisition of the company. He has since overseen core product and technology development, including work across optical displays, chips, sensing and system architecture. Before joining PICO, Li helped coordinate the acquisition and recruit technical staff in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The leadership change comes as PICO prepares for the global launch of its next-generation flagship MR device, codenamed ‘Project Swan,’ in late 2026. Public information cited by 36Kr indicates that the headset will use MicroOLED displays and PICO’s self-developed XR chip, which handles real-time sensing, spatial computing and imaging tasks. PICO stated that the chip reduces system sensing latency to 12 milliseconds.
Project Swan will use a dual-chip design, with a separate main chip handling general computing and graphics rendering. Its average angular resolution is approximately 40 PPD, rising above 45 PPD in the central viewing area, according to the company.
PICO also announced PICO OS 6 in March. The operating system supports Android apps, browsers and 3D content running simultaneously in a spatial environment, alongside OpenXR, WebXR and PC VR streaming. A new desktop-based PICO Emulator from the company will also allow developers to design, code, and test without requiring a headset.
According to CINNO Research data cited by 36Kr, approximately 567,000 consumer-grade XR devices were sold in China in 2024, with PICO accounting for about 54% of the country’s consumer VR market, the largest share among manufacturers. The PICO 4 Ultra was also one of the major new VR products in China that year.
According to 36Kr, Li’s initial product work will include Project Swan’s release and moving PICO OS 6 from an early developer experience toward formal rollout.
For more information on PICO and its XR products, please visit the company’s website.
Image credit: PICO
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix, where he has spent years immersed in the XR ecosystem, tracking its evolution from early prototypes to the technologies shaping the future of human experience. While primarily covering the latest AR and VR news, his interests extend to the wider world of human augmentation, from AI and robotics to haptics, wearables, and brain–computer interfaces.