The XR Week Peek (2025.04.08): Meta’s upcoming smartglasses may cost $1400, the worries for US tariffs, and more!
It’s not the most active period for the XR space, but at least this week we had the April Fool’s that shook our ecosystem a bit! And there have also been a few interesting pieces of news… I’ll talk about all of them in the current roundup, so you’re sure not to miss anything interesting happening in XR 🙂
Top news of the week
Meta’s upcoming smartglasses can cost up to $1400
A report by Bloomberg revealed what could be Meta’s plans related to its upcoming smartglasses to be released this year. And they are a bit unexpected, in my opinion.
Meta should release a model of glasses codenamed Hypernova, which are basically a bulkier version of Ray-Ban Meta that feature one display to show you some visual information to only one eye. To not clutter your view, the visual elements are in the lower part of your vision, so you have to actively look down to see them. The glasses can be commanded using capacitive temples or the neural wristband that comes with them. Hypernova should also get a camera upgrade, getting something similar to “the iPhone 13 from 2021”. Meta is also planning to release a version with two displays (one per eye) in 2027. This is the expected part of the report, because it more or less respects what we already knew and represents a normal evolution of the smartglasses that Meta has on the market today.
What is a bit unexpected is the rest. The glasses won’t show the Ray-Ban brand, but a Meta one. Considering that everyone wants to use stylish Ray-Ban glasses but almost no one wants to wear the brand Meta on the face, this is pretty confusing. This goes to kill what were two of the main drivers of the success of the Ray-Ban Meta: the Ray-Ban branding and the distribution network of Essilor Luxottica. There was a third driver of the success, which was the low price, and guess what? Meta is going to break that, too: according to the report, the glasses are going to cost something in the range of $1000-$1400. This is a huge price, especially for glasses that do not have a fundamental use case. They are just meant to see phone notifications and make photos and videos; this is not something for which people would spend $1000 on top of their phone. Unless there is an Apple drawn on it, of course.
So, apart from the fans of Meta and the hard tech enthusiasts, who does usually buy very expensive devices in the early stages? I think you guessed it: it’s we developers, so we can play around with new hardware and also get an early-mover advantage. So you’d think this is a devkit. But actually not, because the same report states that the sets of apps that you can run on the device are curated by Meta, like on the present Ray-Ban Meta. So not even developers would have interest in buying this.
In the end, I hope the report is wrong (as all the reports, it should be taken with a grain of salt), because otherwise I honestly have no idea who should be interested in buying this device. People wanting to make photos and videos can buy a Ray-Ban Meta, devs that want to experiment with development with smartglasses can buy more open smartglasses (e.g. from Brillant Labs), and people that want quick access to phone notifications can buy a smart watch. And all these three devices together may cost still less than the price of the Hypernova…
More info (Report on Hypernova glasses — Road To VR)
More info (Report on Hypernova glasses — Upload VR)
More info (Report on Hypernova glasses — Forbes)
Other relevant news
The XR space had quite a few April Fool’s Jokes
Finally, after many years that it was just me and a couple of other crazy guys making April Fool’s jokes, this year there have been quite a few people and companies doing something a bit crazy for the 1st of April. Just to summarize some of the craziness: I’ve announced the launch of the Decagear, while Sebastian Ang (MRTV) published a video announcing to be the new CEO of Pimax. Ndreams announced Synapse 2, but only for Google Cardboard, and Voodoo DE showed a preview of a very futuristic device.
Of course, it has not only been the XR space, but the whole tech ecosystem making jokes. This year Razer made one of my favorite sketches, announcing the release of the Razer Skibidi, the headset that is able to translate what you say to the language of Gen Z and vice versa. I guess something like that would actually be useful to adults entering Gorilla Tag and finding themselves surrounded by screaming kids…
Have fun reading the links below with my personal selection of favorite April Fool’s jokes!
More info (My announcement of the Decagear and new Pimax headsets)
More info (Sebastian Ang announcing to be the new CEO of Pimax)
More info (VooDoo DE and his exclusive preview)
More info (Synapse 2 for Google Cardboard)
More info (VRCDN having to face a lawsuit)
More info (Walkabout Minigolf introducing Puppeteering)
More info (Some of the best tech jokes of 2025, including the Razer Skibidi)
Will the new US tariffs cause an increase in the price of headsets?
I’m writing this part of the newsletter that is still a black monday for all the stock exchanges of the world because of the new tariffs that have been introduced by the USA. The situation is still evolving, and it is not clear if the tariffs are meant to stay or if they have just been introduced as a way to gain an advantage through a forced deal with the other countries.
If they are meant to stay, this is going to be a problem (among other things) for all the electronic gadgets, including the XR headsets. All the American companies that are going to source components and/or have manufacturing facilities in Asia will see the BOM (basically, the cost of the components) increase, and most probably have to recoup these additional expenses by raising the final price to the customer. So the Quest 3S may cost $500, for instance, after Meta has finished its current stocks.
The fact is that since VR headsets are not fundamental for any consumer use case (they are a nice-to-have more than a must-have), their sales are very susceptible to price. The reason why Quest 2 and now Quest 3s have sold so well is because their prices are ridiculously low for what they offer. And notwithstanding that, XR has still not fully entered the mainstream. If the prices of the headsets are going to rise, sales are going to drop, and this is going to hurt our space in a moment where the situation is already pretty stagnant. It may delay further in time the recovery of XR.
I hope this situation is only temporary, otherwise, this is going to impact us all.
(Thanks Rob Cole for some of the below links)
More info (How the tariffs may impact XR headsets)
More info (The tariffs are already impacting the computers’ market)
More info (New tariffs about chips may come later)
News worth a mention
Apple releases Apple Intelligence for Vision Pro
Vision Pro just got its 2.4 version of VisionOS, which brings very interesting features:
- A broad release of Apple Intelligence, which includes, for instance, the ability to proofread text, rewrite and summarize text, and image generation tools
- Spatial Gallery, a curated set of amazing immersive photos and videos
- A companion app for Vision Pro (it seems in the end, Meta was right with this one)
- An improved guest experience, with the owner of the Vision Pro that can configure the guest mode by using the companion app, and can also more easily activate the mirroring
More info (VisionOS 2.4 — Road To VR)
More info (VisionOS 2.4 — Upload VR)
Quest is doing well, Quest is doing bad
We are in a pretty contradictory moment, where some of the indicators point to the fact that the Quest ecosystem is doing great, and others say that it is doing pretty badly. For instance, some titles are having a big success nowadays: Gorilla Tag and I Am Cat are huge hits. Not to mention Animal Company, the game of the moment, which has just topped 100K revenues on the Quest Store, aiming at becoming even bigger than Gorilla Tag.
But at the same time, some devs are seeing their game lose market share, and there have been many layoffs. Plus, it seems there is less money going around the Quest market recently. At GDC, Meta has announced that more than $2B has been spent on the Horizon Store, which is a good number… if not for the fact that it is the same number that Meta shared more than a year ago. This shows that revenues on Quest have slowed down, maybe thanks to the new influx of kids who like to play free-to-play games.
More info (Quest still at $2B revenues)
More info (Some games are having a great success on Quest)
More info (Animal Company crossing 100K revenues)
Nintendo Labo won’t work with Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 has been the most discussed gadget of the week. For us XR enthusiasts there is a bad news about it, though: since the display of the new Switch is noticeably larger than the one of the original Switch, the previous Nintendo Labo accessory won’t work with Switch 2, and for now Nintendo doesn’t seem to have the intention to sell a new Labo for the new console.
Some developers are working to make PSVR 2 eye tracking work on PC
A developer known with the handle “whatdahopper” has managed to make a prototype where he is able to read eye-tracking data from PSVR 2 on PC. iVRy, that you may remember for the adapter meant to connect PSVR 2 to PC, is working on something similar, and the two of them are even collaborating.
If these people succeed in their intent, PSVR 2 could become the cheapest headset featuring eye tracking. This wouldn’t be good only for VRChat fans, but also for research centers and other entities that may be interested in exploring eye interactions and foveated rendering.
More info (A developer unlocked PSVR 2 eye tracking on PC)
More info (iVRy also working on a similar solution)
Some amazing work with Quest camera access
Every Week, the community of Quest devs doesn’t cease to amaze me. Some people are playing with camera access and creating astonishing prototypes. In the link below, you can find:
- A demo that voxelizes the space around you
- Another demo that allows you to scan a physical object on Quest and obtain its rough 3D voxel model
- A guy who managed to track a physical ball he’s playing with while wearing the Quest
- Another demo (this one not much about camera access) where a developer has been able to create a mixed reality drone that can take pictures of himself (hint: he’s using a webcam to be able to see himself from the MR drone)
Click the links below and be astonished!
More info (Voxelization of the environment)
More info (3D scan of objects)
More info (Ball tracking from Quest)
More info (Photo-shooting drone)
A thin haptic skin
A new interesting research work shows a very thin synthetic skin that can provide haptic feedback. The skin has currently been tested on finger tips, and it offers some dots that can inflate and deflate to apply pressures on different parts of the fingertip to simulate different contact points of the skin with an external object. It is very intriguing work, but not something that can arrive on the market soon.
The Ruff Talk VR Gaming Showcase
YouTube channel Ruff Talk VR has been able to set up a pretty nice VR gaming showcase event that gave visibility to some interesting VR indie titles. Some of the pieces of news reported in the next paragraph below come from this Showcase, but if you want to watch the integral version of it, you can click on the link provided here.
Some info about content
- Civilization VII VR is coming exclusively for Quest 3 and 3S. It is going to launch on April 10 for the whopping amount of $60
- Velociblaster, a multiplayer game where the player impersonates armed velociraptors, can now be wishlisted on Quest. This is the game we didn’t know we needed
- Train Sim World is finally on Quest. For $32, you can enjoy a realistic train driving experience in VR for the first time
- The studio behind “Township Tale” has teased its upcoming title, a dungeon-crawler extraction game called REAVE
- Bearly Escape, an Early Access claw-machine puzzler, will launch on May 1 on SteamVR and Quest 3 for $14.99
- Arcade racer Exer Gale launches into Early Access on Quest this June
- Horse management simulator Rival Stars Horse Racing: VR Edition arrives on Steam and Quest on April 17
- Someone is working to re-create Half-Life: Alyx on Quest 3. This is really a huge work of love and dedication, and I love it. For now, the first scene is already available as a sideloadable APK (Thanks Rob Cole for the tip)
More info (Civilization VII)
More info (Velociblaster)
More info (Train Sim World)
More info (Reave)
More info (Bearly Escape)
More info (Exer Gale)
More info (Rival Stars Horse Racing)
More info (Half-Life: Alyx on Quest)
Some reviews about content
- Pinball FX VR is able to deliver a very well-made pinball experience, and also a good variety of pinball machines. The mixed reality mode lets you put the machines in your room as if it were an arcade, and this is pretty cool
- Wanderer: Fragments Of Fate is a pretty solid game featuring very well-thought-out puzzles. It has huge potential as a game, but it needs to have some things fixed, like for instance, combat, and various glitches and bugs that ruin the experience
- Upload VR confirmed in its review that the new Hitman World Of Assassination for PSVR 2 is actually a good game!
More info (Pinball FX VR — The game)
More info (Pinball FX VR — The tables)
More info (Wanderer Fragments Of Fate)
More info (Hitman World Of Assassination)
Other news
ACE and SIG SAUER partnered to create a controller for Quest that simulates the same shape and weight of a real gun
Squid Game VR experience at Sandbox VR generated more than $30M in ticket sales up to now
Don Hopper reviewed positively the Mocopi Pro tracking set in his hands-on at GDC
Virtual Desktop now lets you spawn virtual monitors also for your Mac and its quality is impressive
A recent study found that modern kids suffer less from motion sickness than adults
HTC celebrated 9 years of Vive. Happy birthday
News from partners (and friends)
Mixed Reality Tech Testing Service
I’ve been contacted by a new startup founded by an entrepreneur that was already in the XR space: it is called “Mixed Reality Tech” and it provides testing services for XR applications. They are basically a QA team on demand that can test your experience on different headsets and provide you a list of bugs to fix. If you need testing services, feel free to reach out to them.
Learn more
Some XR fun
96° FOV is the way to solve motion sickness
Funny link
What if we humans would be programmed using an LLM prompt?
Funny link
This is the future awaiting me
Funny link
How to differentiate a Terminator from a human in one single step
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
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And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Razer)
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