If mixed reality and virtual reality are still a big thing, you wouldn’t know it based on Meta’s Connect conference last week. There were no big Quest announcements (outside of maybe Hyperscape), no new Quest headset, and it felt like the only time Meta (traditionally the loudest and proudest purveyor of XR out there) really tackled XR and VR was through a surprise, and slightly out of place, fireside chat with… Avatar director, James Cameron.
That would make sense if XR and VR headsets have fallen behind, becoming a victim of a lack of technological advancement or insufficient investment. But the funny thing is, the hardware seems to be more sophisticated than ever. Take Pimax’s upcoming Dream Air and Dream Air SE, for example. While the headsets are delayed until December, the specs on them look enticing for VR enthusiasts, to say the least. According to Pimax, its headsets both weigh less than 200 grams, come with micro OLED panels, and the Dream Air will have a 4K resolution in each eye. And that’s just the areas that Pimax is competing with other headsets on.
One feature that its headsets will have that no other competitor will is a motorized self-tightening headstrap— totally unnecessary—but is also admittedly pretty damn cool. And this thing will automatically adjust the lenses to match your vision, so you don’t have to screw around manually adjusting IPD settings and whatnot. I have no idea how either of these features works since I haven’t used the Dream Air line at all, but just their existence says to me that VR and XR headsets clearly have more to offer innovation-wise.
And Pimax isn’t the only one pushing forward in the category: Samsung appears to be on the precipice of releasing its Project Moohan XR headset, a competitor to Apple’s Vision Pro that should deliver displays that are equally as premium and a UI that might be just as intuitive in a package that (hopefully) costs a lot less than $3,500. And that’s not even accounting for a rumored upcoming version of the Vision Pro, which may knock down the price and feature an even more powerful chip.
There’s clearly progress in the pipeline, and potentially substantial progress, but excitement over that progress doesn’t seem to match up. For the third consecutive year, sales of VR headsets declined in 2024, even with Apple’s entry into the XR scene and the release of Meta’s very affordable Quest 3S headset that does most of what the Quest 3 does for just $299. In May, Meta, the biggest player in the space, saw its Reality Labs revenue decline 6% because of waning Quest sales. The point is, people aren’t buying headsets even if they’re nicer than they ever were.
In one way, I get it. While the Pimax Dream Air headsets are light, they’re also tethered to a PC, which isn’t exactly the most immersive experience one could have in VR. And the Vision Pro? Well, no tether there, but it’s heavy and expensive. Plus, there’s an external battery pack, which feels like its own kind of tether in a way, since you have to carry that around while you’re groping the air in XR. Even the Quest 3S, which is a great middle ground of weight, capability, and a truly unbeatable price, struggles with the inherent obstacles of wearing a big headset on your face—you get sweaty, hot, and your head comes out looking like you’ve been snorkeling for the last hour.
As great as XR and VR experiences are, they’re still niche for lots of those reasons and more, and those downsides might feel even more stark when you compare them to emerging devices like smart glasses. I just got a chance to try Meta’s Ray-Ban Display, and the appeal is immediate. They’re a reasonable weight, they do useful stuff like messaging and navigation, and they come with Meta’s Neural Band that makes navigating the UI intuitive. Sure, they’re nowhere near the capability of a full VR or XR headset, and the price is still high ($800), but the benefits to owning a pair are clear right out of the gate.
I’m not willing to put the proverbial nail in XR and VR headsets’ coffin just yet. They’ll have a time and place as long as we’re still struggling to miniaturize AR into a device that doesn’t weigh our heads down, which could be quite a while. But maybe headsets are a lot more niche than we expected, and maybe no matter how bright and clear we make the screens or how seamless the UI is, they’re still just a bridge to something smaller, lighter, and more Ray-Ban-like.