Here it is, after a year of waiting… the holiday period. H2 of 2024 was an exceedingly busy time for the XR market. As stated many times on XR Today, the industry slump at the start of the year led some pundits to believe XR was dying quickly following the collapse of the Metaverse’s baby steps and the disruptive rise of genAI.
However, the industry quickly flipped mid-year, with significant XR players turning dwindling promises into new products and a fresh outlook for 2024.
2024 looks to be chock-full of products, announcements, and potentially paradigm-shifting future of work technologies.
However, the holiday period is slow for the industry; most of 2023’s major tech events are closed, with the world now waiting for CES 2024. However, on the flip side, the consumer market may get renewed interest in XR leading into holiday periods as people worldwide may get gifted with a headset.
And, with a potential increase of XR devices in the home, enterprise end-users may feel the fallout of this rise in adoption. Like with smartphones, daily technology ubiquity starts at home, and the more decision-makers get casually familiar with the hardware, the easier it is for XR champions to promote the technology among their peers in the workplace.
Let’s look at the last big news pieces for November 2023.
Is Apple working on Smart Glasses?
This week, Apple was found to have supplied the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filings with 85 fillings, which include various requests for technology, namely covering head-mounted devices (HMDs).
Apple has filed several patent requests for its Vision Pro technology and a smart glasses-style HMD. One of the patent requests includes a “tension controller” that could be housed in a lightweight smart glasses immersive device. The tension controller allows the wearer to reduce motion and improve device placement on the face. The patent illustration shows the tension controller near the wearer’s ear, indicating that it could be integrated into smart glasses.
While the device in the illustration seems smaller and lighter than the Vision Pro, it could be a cause for concern among some enterprise end-users as it lacks a large front display and head strap. Recent rumours suggest that Apple is working on a cheaper headset priced between $1,500 and $2,500, down from the Vision Pro’s $3,499 price.
Given its size reductions, the smaller “smart glasses” seen in the patent filings may be the rumoured cheaper device. Details also reveal that the cheaper Vision Pro will replace the M-2 chip with an Apple A-series chip and remove the front-facing eyesight feature.
In addition to Vision Pro technology, Apple has filed 85 patent requests for MR headset-related technologies such as optical modules, foveated display systems, lens mounting systems, and a waveguided display system with adjustable lenses.
Varjo Reveals New XR-4 MR Headset
During an online showcase event, Varjo recently announced its latest enterprise-grade MR headset lineup. The XR-4 portfolio comprises three MR headsets: the XR-4, XR-4 Focal Edition, and XR-4 Secure Edition. These headsets are designed to cater to different end-users, ranging from aviation to government to defence.
Patrick Wyatt, Chief Product Officer of Varjo, said:
As we enter a period of rapid expansion in mixed reality adoption, we’re proud to drive the industry forward by bridging the gap between human vision and computer vision with our new XR-4 series. For the past five years, Varjo customers have demonstrated that true innovation happens when the most advanced computing power meets the highest-immersion XR in the hands of industrial users, and we can’t wait to see the applications unlocked by the XR-4 series’ technological breakthroughs.
Varjo, a leading virtual and mixed-reality headset manufacturer, has announced the release of its new XR-4 series. The company has designed this series for industrial clients rather than consumers and claims it goes beyond consumer-grade headsets’ capabilities. According to Varjo, consumer-grade XR devices are only suitable for primary 2D productivity use cases, whereas the XR-4 series offers a range of new spatial opportunities for enterprise clients.
The base model of the XR-4 series starts at 3,990 euros or dollars. Varjo has already made the devices available to enterprise clients, and the first shipments will commence in December. In addition, Varjo is showcasing the Varjo XR-4 Focal Edition headset at I/ITSEC, a world-leading simulation and training expo.
HTC VIVE Debuts Ultimate Trackers
HTC VIVE unveiled its VIVE Ultimate Tracker. According to Shen Ye, the Global Head of Product at HTC VIVE, this new tracker offers users multiple vantage points for body tracking.
The Ultimate Tracker features next-generation motion-capturing technology, enhancing avatars and real-time 3D content development without requiring base stations. It allows users to receive full-body tracking with minimum gear and multiple reference points.
In addition, each set of up to five Ultimate Trackers simultaneously provides users with six degrees of freedom (6DoF). The Ultimate Tracker is lightweight, weighing only 94 grams, and has a battery life of up to seven hours. It can also connect within a range of up to 10 meters of operating distance.
