XR Industry News

Sharp Unveils Prototype VR Controller, Combining Haptic Gloves & Standard Buttons

July 22, 2025 From roadtovr

Sharp announced it’s releasing a prototype VR haptic controller in Japan, which aims to reproduce the sense of touch in VR while serving a familiar button layout.

Japan-based Sharp says its VR haptic controllers can let users sense texture thanks to “multi-segmented tactile elements” placed on the device’s fingertips. Various vibration patterns on the surface are meant to convey different textures, such as smooth, rough, etc., the company says.

“Although the haptics are not at a level that reproduces the real thing, by changing the parameters we have been able to achieve a variety of tactile sensations,” Sharp says on the project’s Japan-facing website. “Rather than leaving it in-house until the developers are satisfied with it, we plan to work with our users to improve the quality of the content.”

Sharp says the device, which will arrive in a left and right pair, “does not allow for delicate finger tracking like glove types.” It also lacks force feedback, or any sort of temperature feedback.

The prototype is supposed to also function like a standard controller, including sticks and buttons, the company says. One thing that isn’t clear though is how the gloves will be tracked, which Sharp says could include mounts for “high market share” tracking standards.

Sharp says the device is currently undergoing demonstration experiments, so it’s not clear whether it will eventually be commercialized; we haven’t seen anything beyond renders at this time. The company is aiming to put early iterations of the device in the hands of the paying public though, at least in Japan.

The company recently closed pre-registrations through its Japan-facing website, pricing units at ¥100,000 (~$680). “Please note that development or release may be canceled,” the company warns.

Granted, Sharp has more experience in XR than you might think. As the leading OEM supplier of high-end VR displays, at one time Sharp was the top display supplier for Meta Quest 2. In late 2024, Sharp and Japan’s largest telecom NTT Docomo also launched a pair of AR glasses, called MiRZA.

Meta Researchers Reveal Compact Ultra-wide Field-of-View VR & MR Headsets

July 18, 2025 From roadtovr

Ahead of an upcoming technical conference, researchers from Meat’s Reality Labs Research group published details on their work toward creating ultra-wide field-of-view VR & MR headsets that use novel optics to maintain a compact goggles-style form-factor.

Published in advance of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2025 Emerging Technologies conference, the research article details two headsets, each achieving a horizontal field-of-view of 180 degrees (which is a huge jump over Meta’s existing headsets, like Quest 3, which is around 100 degrees).

The first headset is a pure VR headset which the researchers say uses “high-curvature reflective polarizers” to achieve the wide field of view in a compact form-factor.

The other is an MR headset, which uses the same underlying optics and head-mount but also incorporates four passthrough cameras to provide an ultra-wide passthrough field-of-view to match the headset’s field-of-view. The cameras total 80MP of resolution at 60 FPS.

The researchers compared the field-of-view of their experimental headsets to that of the current Quest 3. In the case of the MR headset, you can clearly see the advantages of the wider field-of-view: the user can easily see someone who is in a chair right next to them, and also has peripheral awareness of a snack in their lap.

Both experimental headsets appear to use something similar to the outside-in ‘Constellation’ tracking system that Meta used on its first consumer headset, the Oculus Rift CV1. We’ve seen Constellation pop up on a number of Reality Labs Research headsets over the years, likely because it’s easier to use for rapid iteration compared to inside-out tracking systems.

The researchers point out that similarly wide field-of-view headsets already exist the consumer market (for instance, those from Pimax), but the field-of-view often comes at the cost of significant bulk.

A Pimax headset, known for its wide field-of-view. | Photo by Road to VR

The Reality Labs researchers claim that these experimental headsets have a “form-factor comparable to current consumer devices.”

“Together, our prototype headsets establish a new state-of-the-art in immersive virtual and mixed reality experiences, pointing to the user benefits of wider FOVs for entertainment and telepresence applications,” the researchers claim.

For those hoping these experimental headsets point to a future Quest headset with an ultra-wide field-of-view… it’s worth noting that Meta does lots of R&D and has shown off many research prototypes over the years featuring technologies that have yet to make it to market.

For instance, back in 2018, Meta (at the time still called Facebook) showed a research prototype headset with varifocal displays. Nearly 7 years later, the company still hasn’t shipped a headset with varifocal technology.

As the company itself will tell you, it all comes down to tradeoffs; Meta CTO Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth explained as recently as late 2024 why he thinks pursuing a wider field-of-view in consumer VR headsets brings too many downsides in terms of price, weight, battery life, etc. But there’s always the chance that this latest research causes him to change his mind.

Pico Reportedly Developing Slim & Light Mixed Reality ‘Goggles’ to Rival Next-Gen Meta Headset

July 18, 2025 From roadtovr

Pico, the XR headset maker owned by TikTok parent ByteDance, is reportedly developing a mixed reality device aimed at rivaling Meta’s next-generation XR headset.

According to a report from The Information, Pico is currently working on a pair of mixed reality “goggles” codenamed ‘Swan’, which are said to be thin and lightweight—reportedly weighing around just 100 grams.

Citing three people with direct knowledge of the project, The Information reports that the device features a hybrid design that offloads processing to a tethered compute puck. This approach allows the glasses portion of the device to be significantly thinner and lighter than current-generation XR headsets like the Quest 3 or Pico 4 Ultra.

Swan is also said to rely primarily on eye and hand tracking for input, moving away from physical controllers. Furthermore, the report notes that Pico is developing “specialized chips for the device that will process data from its sensors to minimize the lag or latency between what a user sees in AR [sic] and their physical movements.”

Swan is said to be conceptually similar to Meta’s reportedly upcoming mixed reality device codenamed ‘Phoenix’, which also includes a compute puck and a glasses-like form factor. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Meta’s headset could launch in either 2026 (WSJ’s estimate) or 2027 (as cited by The Information) and may cost under $1,000.

The codename itself is still a matter of speculation: The Information refers to Meta’s headset as ‘Phoenix’, while the WSJ uses ‘Loma’, and online sources have also mentioned ‘Puffin’.

That said, there is currently no information on what Swan will cost or where it will ship. In the past, Pico’s consumer headsets have typically been priced slightly above Meta’s equivalents and have been available primarily in East and Southeast Asia and Europe—but not in North America.

Beyond Military, Meta is Eyeing an XR Expansion into the Medical Field

July 14, 2025 From roadtovr

It was announced recently that Meta is partnering with military tech company Anduril to bring XR technology to the battlefield. New job listings indicate the company is also looking to expand its XR tech into the medical field.

Meta is of course best known for in the XR space for its consumer VR and MR headsets like the Rift and Quest, but the company also thinks its XR tech has a bigger role to play. While Meta has dabbled in the education and enterprise spaces with its headsets for years, the company is now starting to think seriously about the medical field.

New job listings from Reality Labs (Meta’s XR division) show the company wants to fill roles relating to regulatory approval for XR medical products.

“We’re seeking a regulatory affairs specialist to join our medical devices compliance team. You will get to work on wearables and Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) applications for the US and worldwide approvals,” reads the listing for ‘Medical Devices, Regulatory Specialist‘. “You will work on cutting-edge wearable technologies, including augmented reality glasses, wrist wearables, and other innovative devices.”

“Collaborate proactively and establish strategic relationships with external stakeholders (Notified Bodies, FDA, Competent Authorities and other regulatory bodies) to ensure that requirements are known early during strategy development, enabling rapid market access to Meta Reality Labs products,” reads the listing for ‘Medical Devices Regulatory Affairs Strategy Specialist‘.

It’s unclear exactly which products or services Meta is hoping to bring into the medical space. However, augmented reality glasses like the company’s Orion prototype seem like a natural fit. While there are certainly established medical uses for VR and MR headsets, AR glasses have an advantage in real-world awareness and fidelity thanks to see-through lenses rather than passthrough; this is important for social reasons (doctors being able to look their patients in the eye) and fidelity (a surgeon having an unfiltered view of an operation).

Beyond wearable devices, Meta is also likely to explore the use of conversational artificial intelligence as an aid to medical workers, and it’s wrist-worn input devices as a means of hands-free input.

Considering the often extensive regulatory hurdles in the medical landscape, it could be years yet before we see exactly what Meta plans to bring to market in this field.

CREAL Secures $8.9M Funding to Miniaturize Light Field Display for AR Glasses

July 11, 2025 From roadtovr

Switzerland-based light field display startup CREAL announced its closed a $8.9 million equity funding round, which the company says will accelerate the miniaturization of its light field module for AR glasses.

The equity funding round was led by ZEISS, the Germany-based optical systems and optoelectronics company, with participation from new and existing investors, including members of the UBS private investor network.

This brings the company’s overall funding to $32 million, with previous investors including Swisscom Ventures, Verve Ventures, and DAA Capital Partners.

In a press statement, Creal says funds will accelerate its mission to deliver “natural, comfortable, and healthy visual digital experiences by advancing its proprietary light field display.”

Integrated into AR glasses, light field displays can recreate the way light naturally enters our eyes, enabling more realistic depth perception and reducing eye strain by allowing proper focus cues at different distances. You can learn more about light fields in our explainer below:

Light fields are significant to AR and VR because they’re a genuine representation of how light exists in the real world, and how we perceive it. Unfortunately they’re difficult to capture or generate, and arguably even harder to display.

Every AR and VR headset on the market today uses some tricks to try to make our eyes interpret what we’re seeing as if it’s actually there in front of us. Most headsets are using basic stereoscopy and that’s about it—the 3D effect gives a sense of depth to what’s otherwise a scene projected onto a flat plane at a fixed focal length.

Such headsets support vergence (the movement of both eyes to fuse two images into one image with depth), but not accommodation (the dynamic focus of each individual eye). That means that while your eyes are constantly changing their vergence, the accommodation is stuck in one place. Normally these two eye functions work unconsciously in sync, hence the so-called ‘vergence-accommodation conflict’ when they don’t.

Some headsets include ‘varifocal’ approaches, dynamically shifting the focal length based on where you’re looking (with eye-tracking), such as Magic Leap One as well as older Meta prototype VR headsets—supporting a larger number of focal lengths. Even so, these varifocal approaches still have some inherent issues that arise because they aren’t actually displaying light fields.

“As AI reshapes how we work and create, AR is poised to become the killer interface to this new era,” says Tomas Sluka, CEO and co-founder of Creal. “But if we’re going to wear AR glasses all day, they must imperatively be healthy, comfortable, and natural to use. That’s why we’re focused on delivering AR glasses that uniquely project digital imagery with real-world depth — fully supporting the natural focusing mechanism of the human eye. This is one of the key foundations for immersive spatial computing.”

Creal says the fresh funding round will help the Écublens, Switzerland-based company continue R&D on its AR light field module, which the company aims to integrate into lightweight, fashionable AR glasses—first for enterprise, and later for consumers.

This also includes ongoing support of a licensing agreement with Zeiss, kicked off in late 2024, to bring its light field-based vision care platform to Zeiss, which it will be used in Zeiss’ next-gen diagnostic and treatment devices.

Meta Reportedly Invests $3.5 Billion in EssilorLuxottica, Further Strengthening Smart Glasses Partnership

July 10, 2025 From roadtovr

It was rumored last year that Meta was seeking a minority stake in French-Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, not only the largest eyewear manufacturer in the world, but also Meta’s partner behind its growing line of smart glasses. Now, a new report suggests the deal has gone through.

Citing people familiar with the matter, a Bloomberg report maintains Meta has acquired just under 3% of EssilorLuxottica, which is suspected to be worth €3 billion (~$3.5 million).

Meta is reportedly considering additional investment in the eyewear maker over time, which could bring its overall stake to around 5%, the people said, who asked to not be named due to ongoing deliberations.

In June 2024, a Wall Street Journal report maintained Meta was considering a stake of about 5% in the eyewear group, although at the time talks were reportedly still in early phases.

Then, three months later, Meta announced it was expanding its smart glasses partnership with EssilorLuxottica into 2030. At the time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described its long-term roadmap as giving the companies “the opportunity to turn glasses into the next major technology platform, and make it fashionable in the process.”

This comes as the companies prepare to release their latest smart glasses collaboration: Oakley Meta HSTN. Meta and EssilorLuxottica are releasing a limited edition version of device on July 11th, priced at $499, with multiple lens and frame colorways slated to go on sale later this summer.

Oakley Meta HSTN comes with a modest feature bump over the companies’ second-gen Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which launched in 2023. In addition to serving up music, photo and video capture, and AI chats, Oakley Meta HSNT also promises better battery life and higher resolution video capture over the current Ray-Ban Meta generation, offering up to “3K video” from the device’s ultra-wide 12MP camera and a typical battery life of eight hours between recharges via the supplied charging case.

Meanwhile, other tech giants are preparing their own entries into the segment. Google revealed back in May that it was partnering with eyewear makers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to bring its first Android XR smart glasses to market. Recent industry reports allege Google is also looking to invest $100 million in the South Korea-based Gentle Monster.

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi recently released its Xiaomi AI Glasses, which match many of Oakley Meta HSNT’s biggest features, but also add a few of their own—notably an increased continuous recording cap of 45 minutes and even the option to select electrochromic lenses for variable lens-shading. For now, Xiaomi AI Glasses are only available in China.

Both Samsung and Apple are reportedly looking to launch their own smart glasses at some point in the future too. Separate reports maintain Samsung could release a device this year, and Apple as soon as 2026.

Smart Contact Maker Raises $250M Investment at a Whopping $1.35B Valuation

July 9, 2025 From roadtovr

Smart contact lens startup XPANCEO announced it’s secured $250 million in Series A funding, putting its valuation at $1.35 billion and minting it as XR’s most recent unicorn.

The funding round was led by Opportunity Venture (Asia), which led the company’s $40 million Seed round in 2023, bringing its overall funding to $290 million, according to Crunchbase data.

XPANCEO, a UAE-based company, says the new funding will “accelerate the company’s mission to launch the world’s first all-in-one smart contact lens,” which is targeted to arrive by 2026.

While the company’s smart contacts are still in prototyping phase, XPANCEO says they will integrate XR, real-time health monitoring, night vision, and zoom features.

Display System with Sub-0.5 mm Projector | Image courtesy XPANCEO

“Becoming a unicorn is a powerful signal that we’re on the right path,” said Roman Axelrod, founder and Managing Partner at XPANCEO. “In just 24 months, we’ve developed 15 working prototypes, each unlocking a new layer of possibility. Our vision remains the same: to merge all your devices into a single, invisible interface – your eyes.”

Since its 2023 seed round, XPANCEO says its fleet of prototypes include a lens for AR vision, a smart lens with intraocular pressure (IOP) sensing for glaucoma monitoring, a biochemical lens capable of measuring health parameters such as glucose directly from tear fluid, and a lens capable of real-time wireless charging and data reading.

Other prototypes feature nanoparticle-enhanced lenses for night vision and color correction, as well as lenses designed for 3D imaging, the company says.

Smart Сontact Lens with Wireless Powering Companion | Image courtesy XPANCEO

Headed by serial entrepreneur Roman Axelrod and physicist Dr. Valentyn S. Volkov, XPANCEO has grown rapidly since its 2021 founding, expanding from 50 to 100 scientists, engineers, and business leaders. Meanwhile, its lab has expanded to support the increasing scope of its research, the company says.

Over the years, XPANCEO has collaborated with a number of institutions, including the University of Manchester, the National University of Singapore, Donostia International Physics Center, and the University of Dubai.

High-Sensitivity Compact IOP Sensor | Image courtesy XPANCEO

XPANCEO’s new unicorn status puts it alongside some of the most ambitious XR projects to date: AR headset company Magic Leap first broke the $1 billion valuation mark in 2014 with a $542 million Series B investment led by Google, putting it at a max of $6.4 billion valuation in 2018 following its landmark investment by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Earlier this year, immersive web content company Infinite Reality announced it raised $3 billion from a private investor to build its “vision for the next generation of the internet,” bringing the company’s valuation to $12.25 billion.

Xiaomi Unveils China’s Answer to Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses with a Few Killer Features

June 26, 2025 From roadtovr

Today at Xiaomi’s ‘Human x Car x Home’ event, the Chinese tech giant revealed its answer to Meta and EssilorLuxottica’s series of smart glasses: Xiaomi AI Glasses.

Reports from late last year alleged Xiaomi was partnering with China-based ODM Goertek to produce a new generation of AI-assisted smart glasses, which was rumored to “fully benchmark” against Ray-Ban Meta—notably not officially available in China.

Now, Xiaomi has unveiled its first Xiaomi AI Glasses, which include onboard Hyper XiaoAi voice assistant, 12MP camera with electronic image stabilization (EIS), five mics, two speakers—all of it driven by a low-power BES2700 Bluetooth audio chip and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1. So far, that’s pretty toe-to-toe with Ray-Ban Meta and the recently unveiled Oakley Meta HSTN glasses.

And like Meta’s smart glasses, Xiaomi AI Glasses don’t include displays of any kind, instead relying on voice and touch input to interact with Hyper XiaoAI. It also boasts foreign language text translation in addition to photo and video capture, which can be toggled either with a voice prompt or tap of the frames.

Xiaomi rates the glasses’ 263mAh silicon-carbon battery at 8.6 hours of use, which the company says can include things like 15 one-minute video recordings, 50 photo shots, 90 minutes of Bluetooth calls, or 20 minutes of XiaoAi voice conversations. Those are just mixed use estimates though, as Xiaomi says it can last up to 21 hours in standby mode, 7 hours of music listening, and 45 minutes of continuous video capture.

One of the most interesting native features though is the ability to simply look at an Alipay QR code, which are ubiquitous across the country, and pay for goods and services with a vocal prompt. Xiaomi says the feature is expected to arrive as an OTA update in September 2025.

The device is set to launch today in China, although global availability is still in question at this time. Xiaomi says the glasses were “optimized for Asian face shapes,” which may rule out a broader global launch for this particular version.

While there’s only a singular frame shape to choose from, it will be offered in three colors—black, and semi-transparent tortoiseshell brown and parrot green—in addition to three lens options, which aim to beat Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta in cool factor.

The base model with clear lenses is priced at ¥1,999 RMB (~$280 USD), while customers can also choose electrochromic shaded lenses at ¥2,699 RMB (~$380 USD) and colored electrochromic shaded lenses at ¥2,999 RMB (~$420 USD).

Xiaomi’s electrochromic lenses allow for gradual shading depending on the user’s comfort, letting you change the intensity of shading by touching the right frame. Notably, the company says its base model can optionally include prescription lenses through its online and offline partners.

This makes Xiaomi AI Glasses the company’s first mass-produced smart glasses with cameras marketed under the Xiaomi brand.

Many of Xiaomi’s earlier glasses—such as the Mijia Smart Audio Glasses 2—were only sold in China and lacked camera sensors entirely, save the limited release device Mijia Glasses Camera from 2022, which featured a 50 MP primary and 8 MP periscope camera, and micro-OLED heads-up display.

Here are the specs we’ve gathered so far from Xiaomi’s presentation. We’ll be filling in more as information comes in:

Camera	12MP
Lens	ƒ/2.2 large aperture \| 105° angle lens
Photo & Video capture	4,032 x 3,024 photos \| 2K/30FPS video recording \| EIS video stabilization
Video length	45 minute continuous recording cap
Weight	40 g
Charging	USB Type-C
Charging time	45 minutes
Battery	263mAh silicon-carbon battery
Battery life	8.6 hours of mixed use
Audio	two frame-mounted speakers
Mics	4 mics + 1 bone conduction mic
Design	Foldable design

–

According to Chinese language outlet Vrtuoluo, the device has already seen strong initial interest on e-commerce platform JD.com, totaling over 25,000 reservations made as of 9:30 AM CST (local time here).

Google Reportedly to Invest $100M in Smart Glasses Partner Gentle Monster

June 24, 2025 From roadtovr

Ahead of Google’s planned rollout of Android XR-equipped smart glasses, the company is reportedly making a $100 million investment in hardware partner Gentle Monster, the South Korean fashion eyewear brand.

According to a Korean Economic Daily report, Google is slated to sign a deal worth around 145.0 billion Korean won (~$100 million) in Gentle Monster.

Citing investment banking sources, the report maintains talks are now at final stages, wherein Google will obtain a 4% stake in the South Korean eyewear brand.

Google announced in May that it was partnering with both Gentle Monster and US-based eyewear brand Warby Parker to release the company’s first generation of Android XR-based smart glasses.

Android XR smart glasses seen at Google I/O | Image courtesy Google

Expected to release sometime in 2026, the smart glasses are said to prominently feature Google’s Gemini AI, with some even including on-board displays for visual output.

Meanwhile, its competitors are maneuvering to capture what could be the next big push in wearable computing.

Meta revealed last week that it’s deepening its ties with Ray-Ban Meta partner EssilorLuxottica with the upcoming release of Oakley Meta HSTN—the company’s next smart glasses following the release of Ray-Ban Meta in 2023.

Previous reports additionally suggest that both Samsung and Apple are looking to launch their own smart glasses at some point in the future; reports allege Samsung could release a device this year, and Apple as soon as 2026.

Meta Reveals Oakley Smart Glasses, Promising Better Video Capture & Longer Battery Life at $400

June 20, 2025 From roadtovr

Meta today revealed its next smart glasses built in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica— Oakley Meta Glasses.

As a part of the extended collaboration, Meta and EssilorLuxottica today unveiled Oakley Meta HSTN (pronounced HOW-stuhn), the companies’ next smart glasses following the release of Ray-Ban Meta in 2023.

Pre-orders are slated to arrive on July 11th for its debut version, priced at $499: the Limited Edition Oakley Meta HSTN, which features gold accents and 24K PRIZM polarized lenses.

Meanwhile, the rest of the collection will be available “later this summer,” Meta says, which start at $399, and will include the following six frame and lens color combos:

Oakley Meta HSTN Desert with PRIZM Ruby Lenses
Oakley Meta HSTN Black with PRIZM Polar Black Lenses
Oakley Meta HSTN Shiny Brown with PRIZM Polar Deep-Water Lenses
Oakley Meta HSTN Black with Transitions Amethyst Lenses
Oakley Meta HSTN Clear with Transitions Grey Lenses

It’s not just a style change though, as the next-gen promises better battery life and higher resolution video capture over Ray-Ban Meta.

In comparison to Ray-Ban Meta glasses, the new Oakley Meta HSTN are said offer up to “3K video” from the device’s ultra-wide 12MP camera. Ray-Ban’s current second-gen glasses are capped at 1,376 × 1,824 pixels at 30 fps from its 12MP sensor, with both glasses offering up to three minutes of video capture.

What’s more, Oakley Meta HSTN is said to allow for up to eight hours of “typical use” and up to 19 hours on standby mode, effectively representing a doubling of battery life over Ray-Ban Meta.

And like Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta HSTN come with a charging case, which also bumps battery life from Ray-Ban Meta’s estimated 32 hours to 48 hours of extended battery life on Oakley Meta HSTN.

It also pack in five mics for doing things like taking calls and talking to Meta AI, as well as off-ear speakers for listening to music while on the go.

Notably, Oakley Meta glasses are said to be water-resistant up to an IPX4 rating—meaning its can take splashes, rain, and sweat, but not submersion or extended exposure to water or other liquids.

The companies say Oakley Meta HSTN will be available across a number of regions, including the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. The device is also expected to arrive in Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates later this year.

In the meantime, you can sign up for pre-order updates either through Meta or Oakley for more information.

« Previous Page