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We recently started shipping Bigscreen Beyond 2 to customers around the world. In the past few days, people have started receiving their Beyond 2s and we're thrilled to see customers post glowing first impressions on Discord and Reddit. As expected, shipments in the first weeks have been relatively slow as we ramp up production and shipping processes day by day. We know the Bigscreen Beyond community loves highly detailed and transparent updates, so today, we're sharing a regular schedule update along with many new and interesting production details.
Expedited Air Freight and Container Shipping
We work with several freight partners to get parts and products from suppliers to our Los Angeles factory. One of our major shipping partners is Flexport. For a glimpse at how our pallets are packed and shipped on a Flexport Boeing 747, check out this video tour (part 1, 2, 3) from the Flexport CEO. We utilize expedited air shipping for the vast majority of parts and products because it can be 3-5 weeks faster than ocean freight, and enables us to get products into the hands of customers faster. However, it comes at a great cost, around 4-6X more expensive. For some predictable things, we build, ship, and inventory them months in advance of launch dates using ocean freight. Recently, we've had several containers full of products ship to us via Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk.
Delays in the supply chain and our solutions
During production ramp up, we regularly investigate the top bottlenecks and improve them. The most notable recent bottleneck is related to shipping speed within our supply chain.
When we air freight devices and assemblies from overseas suppliers, it normally takes 1 week to arrive at our Los Angeles facility (most of that time is spent clearing customs and last-mile trucking). Tariffs have led to many cascading effects with companies scrambling to adjust their supply chain and overwhelming shippers, ports, and even customs. These disruptions lead to shipments in transit sitting in warehouses for longer than they should. For example, we’re about to receive an air freight shipment that was completed 3 weeks ago. To get ahead of this issue, 2 weeks ago, we started rerouting products into a faster shipping lane at increased cost and complexity. The first shipments through this new lane are due to arrive next week, and we anticipate this will soon help to tighten our delivery times and improve our shipping predictability.
Eyetracking with Beyond 2e starts shipping in 1 week
The first shipments were the standard Beyond 2 model without eyetracking. We expected to immediately ship the Beyond 2e with eyetracking right after, but a supplier incorrectly shipped a batch for Beyond 2 instead of Beyond 2e. We expect to start shipping Beyond 2e in a week. Updates to the schedule below apply to both the Beyond 2 and the Beyond 2e.
Why some orders ship out of order
As an example, some April orders may ship before March orders are completed. That's because we offer significant customization for Bigscreen Beyond, and ship dates are dependent on available inventory of color choices, accessories, and add-ons like eyetracking. It's not possible to predict or provide specifics about current inventory levels, as parts and products are constantly in motion - arriving and shipping out continuously. At any given time, on-site inventory is close to zero, with throughput tightly matched between inbound deliveries and outbound shipments. This also makes it difficult to give date-specific estimates for individual orders, since most components are spoken for before they even land.
People often want to know if changing their order (such as a different color) could bump them higher up in the shipping queue, and for the reasons explained above, changing an order is not a reliable way of improving an order’s shipping speed.
We transparently and publicly announce if a predictable option to improve a customer’s shipping speed becomes available. For example, orders with only a Halo Mount will take much longer to ship (current ETA is October) and adding a Custom-Fit Cushion to that order will enable it to ship much earlier with the Halo Mount shipping separately when it is ready.
Schedule
Surprise upgrades for Beyond 1 customers to a Beyond 2
For customers that ordered a Beyond 1 a short time before Beyond 2 was announced, we secretly held back those orders and upgraded them to the Beyond 2. As previously scheduled, these shipments remain on track to complete by July 25. These customers have been waiting for a Beyond for the longest, and are first in line to receive a Beyond 2.
Orders with a Beyond 2 or 2e and a Custom-Fit Cushion
If you ordered in March 2025, Crystal Clear and Carbon Black started shipping 2 weeks ago, and Nuclear Orange starts shipping soon. We previously estimated completing all March orders by July 25. Latest estimates indicate we will only ship half of March orders by then, and we now expect to complete all March orders by August 15. There's a chance the last few March orders may take as late as August 30 to ship. As one could guess, due to massive demand in the first couple weeks of launching Beyond 2, March preorders constitute almost half of all preorders. Half of the March group should experience no delays from the prior schedule, and half will experience a 1-3 week delay.
If you ordered after April 2, 2025, as originally planned, April orders will begin shipping by the end of July. We previously estimated completing April orders by mid-August. We're still aiming to meet that estimate, but there's a chance it takes until September 10 to complete all shipments. This new estimate is approximately a 1-4 week delay for most April orders.
If you ordered after May 7, 2025, we originally estimated an August ship date at the time of purchasing. May and June orders will begin shipping in early August, but until our production speed improves, we're anticipating completing May orders by September 11, and we expect to complete all June orders sometime between September 18-24. This new estimate is approximately a 1-2 week delay for May orders, and a 1-4 week delay for June orders.
Orders with a Beyond 2 or 2e Upgrade
Beyond 2 and 2e Upgrades – for customers who purchased a Beyond 1 and are upgrading to the Beyond 2 – will ship at the same schedule mentioned above for "Orders with a Beyond 2 or 2e and a Custom-Fit Cushion". As mentioned in the prior update, these orders begin shipping later in July pending arrival of several components.
We also want to take a moment to clear up a miscommunication from the prior production update. Beyond 2 Upgrades are not being deprioritized over new customers. Also, these orders are not held back merely due to custom-designed special edition packaging. Multiple parts for these Upgrade orders – including their packaging, IPD Tools, and more – are due later in July. Unless a Beyond 2 Upgrade was ordered on the first day or two of launch, adding the "Accessories Bundle" to a Beyond 2 Upgrade order is unlikely to make a significant difference in the shipping queue. Our intention always remains to ship in the order in which orders were placed ("FIFO" or first in first out), and may fluctuate due to component availability.
Orders with a Beyond 2 or 2e and Halo Mount (Universal-Fit Cushion)
Orders with the Halo Mount – instead of the Custom-Fit Cushion – remain on track with the prior production update's estimate of shipments starting in late September, and most orders shipping in October. As mentioned in the last update, if you wish to receive your Beyond 2 sooner, please email Customer Support at support@bigscreenvr.com to purchase the Custom-Fit Cushion. Adding the Custom-Fit Cushion to your order will enable it to ship faster, and the Halo Mount will ship to you separately when ready.
Summary
We’re working tirelessly to ship Bigscreen Beyond 2 and improve production bottlenecks wherever possible at any cost. As we managed to do with Bigscreen Beyond 1 on multiple occasions, we hope to announce faster delivery dates in future production updates. That’s a lot of information about our estimated shipping schedule, so here’s a condensed view.
What’s Next
Next week, we’ll be announcing a new product partnership with a major VR game developer! We’re also working on an in-depth explainer on how eyetracking works today, the Beta Program for testers, and the product roadmap for eyetracking’s regular software releases.
If you haven't ordered a Bigscreen Beyond 2 yet, you can do so on our store and new orders are expected to ship between August and October based on the type of order and available inventory. If you're curious about Bigscreen Beyond 2, you can watch LinusTechTips, Optimum, and Tested's reviews on YouTube.