Blog V Reality

Wednesday, 29 July 2026

Meta’s First Thin & Light VR Headset Reportedly Appears in User Setup Video Ahead of Connect

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A user setup video has reportedly surfaced of Meta’s long-rumored thin and light VR headset, suggesting we may see its official unveiling at Connect in September.

The News

The images below reveal a blurry look at what is unmistakably Meta’s upcoming puck-tethered VR headset, which has been referred by number of internal codenames over the years: Puffin, Loma, and now Phoenix.

First discovered by X user ‘ToastConcern‘ in Quest’s firmware, the images above are actually screenshots of the device’s initial setup video, captured in full by ‘NoriDoesVR‘. See the full video below:

As confirmed in the work-in-progress video, Phoenix features a slim, almost glasses-like profile, independent lens spacing, removable nose clips for individual user comfort, and built-in hand and eye-tracking. More importantly, it’s said to feature a tethered compute puck, which offloads the bulk of the weight from the user’s head.

While those images of Phoenix are intentionally blurry, it’s very similar to a render generated by data miner and serial leaker ‘Luna‘, which was based off their impressions of the device.

Considering Meta is now just including user setup content in Quest’s firmware, it looks increasingly possible the company is hoping to unveil it at its annual Connect developer event.

Connect is set to kick of on September 23–24, 2026. While the company teased what seems to be a new pair of smart glasses, the event is also focusing on “the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI.”

My Take

TL;DR: Meta has taken its past failures and largely translated them into wins, although I’m still skeptical that the component crisis hasn’t introduced more friction in VR hardware development than Meta can reasonably stomach.

According to a previous report from The Wall Street Journal last year, Meta was internally hoping to price Phoenix somewhere under $1,000. Considering both RAM and storage have skyrocketed since this time last year, and now Qualcomm chips are getting a price hike too, Meta’s next premium VR headset may be particularly premium, which could be setting the company up for another uphill battle.

That said, higher component prices are a new level of friction is affecting almost every company right now hoping to release something that doesn’t cost the equivalent of a black market kidney, Steam Frame included.

Anyway, here’s how Meta’s strategy stands today, at least according to previous rumors and reports: in addition to Phoenix, Meta is still reworking its Quest 4 strategy, which could conceptually put the two devices in different segments—a high-end device for prosumers and professionals (Phoenix), and the lower-end console for consumers (Quest 4). This is essentially the same strategy Meta tried when it first offered Quest Pro, but failed at fairly quickly, so it’s not without risk.

Don’t get me wrong. Quest Pro was a great first-gen device for 2022, but it was expensive at the launch price of $1,500. Meta eventually realized this, lowered the price to $1,000 and accelerated the launch of Quest 3, which not only subsumed a lot of Quest Pro’s abilities (minus the eye-tracking) but did it at a third of the price. It turned a failure into a quick win.

With Phoenix though, Meta has an opportunity to offer a real productivity device, owing to its small form-factor and focus on long-term user comfort. But if Meta can’t capitalize on Phoenix, it’s possible consumers may not see the downstream effects like it did when Quest Pro gave up the ghost and Quest 3 and Quest 3S took its place.

Can Meta pull it off again? I’m skeptical. Meta could decide tomorrow it simply doesn’t care about consumer VR headsets, cancelling any affordable Quest successor and favoring productivity-focused VR from now on. I certainly hope that isn’t the case, although it’s pretty evident at this point we’re in the middle of a VR winter in terms of content development, which could stymy consumer engagement and attraction in the future.

That said, Meta has proven itself agile enough in the past to make it work either way. The company has a history of releasing VR devices that typically take on multiple purposes after the fact, and end up serving their next hardware strategy, “failure” or not.

Oculus Quest (left), Rift S (right) | Courtesy Meta

Some increasingly ancient-feeling history: released in 2019, Oculus Rift S was a marked improvement over the original Oculus Rift CV 1, which had arrived three years prior. Rift S not only allowed Meta (then Facebook) to appeal to upgraders looking for a new headset within the same PC VR ecosystem, but also extract as much money from Rift’s back catalogue of apps before giving up on PC VR gaming entirely, as the company moved on to largely concentrate on developing its Quest standalone platform. Whether that was the intention or not doesn’t really matter; the company had a strategy that allowed it to capitalize on the launch of one piece of hardware to benefit the next.

The same happened with Quest. Launching alongside Rift S, the original Oculus Quest performed well enough, although it lacked power, couldn’t play the same games as Rift without a tether, and was priced at $400 for the 64GB—three areas Quest 2 would immediately improve upon a short year later, culminating in the company’s best-selling VR headset to date. The original Quest was a glorified developer kit.

Whatever the case, we’re sure to learn something about Meta’s future VR strategy at Connect in a few weeks, and possibly sooner, as the company has a pretty terrible track record at keeping anything but its most sacred one-off prototypes under wraps.

The post Meta’s First Thin & Light VR Headset Reportedly Appears in User Setup Video Ahead of Connect appeared first on Road to VR.

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Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Qualcomm is Reportedly Raising Chip Prices and Steam Frame Could Feel the Impact

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Besides being the world’s biggest smartphone chipmaker, Qualcomm is also the number one supplier of processors for nearly all standalone VR headsets on the market today. According to a Bloomberg report, those chips could be getting a lot more expensive.

The News

According to email seen by Bloomberg sent to customer on Friday, Qualcomm is slated to raise chip prices by a percentage in the double digits, set to take effect September 1st, 2026.

Qualcomm explained in the letter that, despite its best efforts to secure alternative components from new sources, the company can no longer absorb higher costs from suppliers.

This adds to the already beleaguered RAM and storage crisis largely caused by the uptick in AI data center construction, which has seen consumer electronics skyrocket in price.

As Bloomberg points out, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has become the major chokepoint, as the it’s a major provider for outsourced chipmaking, with customers including Qualcomm, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Meta.

Outside of Apple Vision Pro, which is based on Apple-developed silicon, most standalone VR headsets rely on Qualcomm chips, including a slate of upcoming devices.

Valve’s Steam Frame is likely to be affected alongside other standalone VR headsets centered around Qualcomm SoCs, with Pico’s ‘Project Swan’ compute puck-tethered headset and undoubtedly also Meta’s next headset in the crosshairs too.

My Take

With rapidly raising component costs now including mobile processors, consumer VR is probably going to be even more difficult to price aggressively in the near future. Most worrying to me is Steam Frame, which Valve still hasn’t given a price or release date yet.

It’s impossible to say whether Qualcomm’s price hike is the main reason why this is the case, but you can bet Valve is now having to think long and hard about how to rolls out the headset, which could be any day now.

I see it going one of a few ways: Valve could eat the cost and make a little less money. Valve could raise its internal price target (again) and sell at its new expected price target. Valve could also raise the headset’s price shortly after launch with a big “sorry guys, we tried” letter to the community. Whatever the case, Frame’s bill of goods has effectively just increased a few more dollars thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

That’s in the near term. In the longer term, I’d expect the price hike to touch smart glasses, AR glasses, as well as in-development VR headsets—with all constituent companies probably now having to weigh whether they really actually need a cutting edge processor to meet market expectations.

The post Qualcomm is Reportedly Raising Chip Prices and Steam Frame Could Feel the Impact appeared first on Road to VR.

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Monday, 27 July 2026

Immersed Says It’s Finally Getting Ready to Ship ‘Visor’ VR Headset

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XR startup Immersed announced it’s nearing launch of its long-promised work-focused standalone VR headset, Visor.

The News

Immersed sent out an email (courtesy Reddit user ‘aline-works’) to pre-order customers over the weekend announcing that the company is locking in shipping timelines.

Next month, the company says we can expect an update that will “cover where we are on the production ramp and what to expect next for your pre-order.”

The company says that due to the global component crisis, which has seen RAM and storage skyrocket in price, Visor is raising its floor price of $500 (Standard 4K Edition) to $700 for pre-order customers and purchasers after July 31st.

As a work-focused standalone VR headset based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset, Visor boasts dual 4K microOLED displays, hand & eye tracking, color passthrough, 6 DoF tracking, and an included three-hour extended battery.

Pre-production unit (circa 2024) | Courtesy Eric Liga

Notably, the $800 Founder’s Edition, which will see the same $200 bump later this month, is said to ship “6 months before Standard Visor 4K,” the company maintains on the headset’s pre-order page, which could point to at least those customers receiving headsets in the near future.

That price however doesn’t include the required ‘Visor Plus’ subscription, which is an additional $40 per month for a 24 month period, or $60 per month for 12 months. This also includes access to the company’s own ‘Curator Professional AI Assistant’.

The shipping update has been a long time coming. Immersed began taking pre-orders in September 2023. In October 2024, Immersed said the hardware was largely complete, but it wanted more time to improve quality control and polish the overall experience rather than rush Visor.

Then, in March 2025, In the company issued its second shipping update wherein Immersed said the shipment of the more expensive Founder’s Edition Visors would be “another month or two,” as the fulfillment schedule was then on “the order of weeks, not quarters.”

That post was subsequently edited, walking back the shipping quote, instead noting that “[p]rogress continues on Founder’s Edition deliveries as we work through fulfillment.”

My Take

Immersed has attracted a bulk of its $38 million runway from pre-IPO crowd investment, with only $4.5 million coming from traditional VCs. That’s a substantial amount of good will in Immersed’s ability to deliver, or at least enough people who believe they’re getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing.

But now approaching late 2026, the landscape is changing. Sometime this year we’ll be getting Valve’s Steam Machine, admittedly not a work-focused thin and light headset like Visor. And at some point, Pico will also release its Project Swan puck-tethered thin and light headset; rumors also allege Meta is cooking up its own puck-tethered competitor for release in 2027, codenamed ‘Phoenix’.

Besides Steam Frame, Pico and Meta’s headsets are likely gunning for the productivity segment too. And even if either company markets more toward gaming, the overlap in function between them is bound to draw direct comparisons, which simply wouldn’t have been the case in 2024.

Still, and it’s unfortunate to say, in the current VR funding hellscape, now more than ever, we really need to see it to believe it.

The post Immersed Says It’s Finally Getting Ready to Ship ‘Visor’ VR Headset appeared first on Road to VR.

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Apple’s First Smart Glasses Reportedly Set to Unveil at WWDC 2027, Release in Late 2027

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According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is set to unveil its first pair of smart glasses at next year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The News

Codenamed ‘N50’, Apple’s smart glasses were reportedly meant for a late 2026 reveal, with launch targeting early 2027. Now Gurman maintains that WWDC, which is set to take place in June 2027, won’t be the device’s actual launch day; consumer release is expected sometime by the end of 2027.

The delay is said to essentially be a two-fold issue, centered on both refining the product from an engineering standpoint, but also a marketing challenge of defining the device’s messaging around privacy.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses | Courtesy EssilorLuxottica, Meta

Like Ray-Ban Meta and the company’s cheaper Meta Glasses, which notably don’t feature any EssilorLuxottica branding, Apple’s smart glasses are said to include two camera sensors; one for photo and video capture and the other for computer vision tasks.

“That’s meant developing features and policies that can address the concerns swirling around competing products from Meta Platforms Inc,” Gurman says, noting the teams developing glasses within Apple’s Vision hardware group and elsewhere in the company see privacy as “priority No. 1.”

And similar to Meta’s audio-only smart glasses, Apple’s N50 hardware isn’t expected to include a display of any kind, instead relying on cameras, speakers and microphones for things such as phone calls, AI queries, listening to music, and capturing images.

My Take

Has the well already been poisoned by creeps? Will fashionable smart glasses with more stringent privacy laws be enough to rehabilitate the segment as a whole? Honestly, I think it’s way too early to frame it that way. Despite some impressive sales figures from Meta and EssilorLuxottica, smart glasses are still very much a niche item; most people own several pairs of sunglasses and likely zero smart glasses at this point.

Some of that might come down to its currently being led by Meta, which has a poor track record on privacy and user surveillance. Some of it may be price sensitivity, although Meta’s $300 no-brand glasses should put a dent in that. In the end, I think most people don’t know why they’d even want a pair in the first place, which Apple will probably vaunt since the company’s top-tier phones and accessories typically start out as status symbols anyway.

Gentle Monster Smart Glasses | Courtesy Google & Samsung

Personally, I don’t own a part of audio-only smart glasses because I’m a text-based person living in a very not-text-based world. I don’t talk to AI because I can’t stand the long-winded answers. I can easily skip over the tropey, Silicon Valley-flavored social lubrication and get to the meat of the answer by reading and typing for clarification than I can by having a stilted conversation out loud. The cameras are also basically at the level of mid-range smartphone from a couple of years go, although the speed to snap a life moment is decidedly quicker despite being objectively worse quality than basically any new smartphone today.

Despite this, there’s clearly money in it now, and it’s also a relatively easy way for Apple/Google/Samsung/Meta to gain a foothold in the soon-to-come AR glasses segment of the future.

Apple is however hoping to avoid Meta’s missteps, it seems. Notably, Meta landed in hot water following the revelation that in March the company was accused of sending private smart glasses camera footage to a Kenya-based subcontractor for manual review to train its AI models. The company has also been accused of baking in facial recognition into its smart glasses, although that feature hasn’t been activated.

That said, it’s clear even Meta is looking to tighten up their act as bigger competition comes online, as the company has finally closed the hardware loophole that allowed motivated users to physically drill out the capture LED, which notifies others when a user is actively taking photos or video. Now, Meta Glasses users who have in some way deactivated the capture LED (already in addition to simply covering it) are no longer able to record video or take photos.

Samsung and Google are also set to release a fleet of smart glasses this year from Warby Parker and South Korea’s Gentle Monster, the latter of which is making a large concerted push into the North American and European market with its smart glasses at the forefront. And that cadre, along with Apple and Meta (which admittedly released its prosumer Meta Display Glasses) also ostensibly has multiple consumer display models in the works too, although I’d expect the bulk of those to be at the very least a device generation away, maybe even further.

The post Apple’s First Smart Glasses Reportedly Set to Unveil at WWDC 2027, Release in Late 2027 appeared first on Road to VR.

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Friday, 24 July 2026

Roguelite Shooter ‘Roboquest’ Comes to Quest Alongside Co-op Update

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Flat2VR Studios has finally brought its VR adapatation of Roboquest (2023) to Quest 3 and 3S, which also brings to the fast-paced roguelite shooter its long-awaited co-op mode.

The new two-player co-op mode is now live, featuring full cross-play between all supported VR platforms, including both SteamVR and PSVR 2 versions.

This includes Quickplay matches as well as private matches, which require a room code—a practical necessity since friends lists aren’t shared across ecosystems.

Initially launched as a flatscreen-only game in 2023, RyseUp Studios worked with Flat2VR to completely overhaul the game for VR headsets, changing much of the game’s player-facing interactions in what Flat2VR has described as a complete VR adaptation, not just a simple port as such.

In case you’ve never heard of Roboquest or the VR version, which released late last year as a separate game, here’s the skinny:

Description: The world is in ruins, scorched and overrun by ruthless machines. But you? You’re a Guardian—humanity’s last hope, rebooted and ready for war. Armed with cutting-edge firepower, razor-sharp reflexes, and a thirst for chaos, you’ll blast through the wastelands, shredding waves of robotic adversaries in high-speed, adrenaline-fueled combat.

Roboquest VR brings the pulse-pounding, roguelite FPS action of the hit game to virtual reality, fully reimagined for an immersive experience that will push your skills to the limit. With fast-paced movement, fluid shooting, and dynamic traversal mechanics, every battle is an electrifying dance of destruction. Sprint, jump, and slide through the ever-shifting environments as you weave between enemy fire and unleash an arsenal of devastating weaponry.

You can find Roboquest VR on Quest 3 & 3S, SteamVR headsets and PSVR 2, priced at $30.

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Thursday, 23 July 2026

How to Tell if Your PC is VR Ready

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With affordable PC-compatible headsets like Quest 3S and PSVR 2, it’s easy to jump into PC VR. For the gamers considering purchasing a PC VR headset, one major question marks the starting point on your journey to a decision: does my PC meet the minimum specs? Here’s how to find out.

Updated – July 23rd, 2026

VR gaming is much more resource intensive than monitor gaming. In short, that’s because the render resolution is much higher than the 1080p or 4K displays used by most PC users today. Not to mention, VR games must also be rendered in 3D and anywhere from 72 to 144 FPS depending on the headset. Here we’ve got the recommended VR system requirements for the most popular headsets.

Before we dive in, you’ll want to know a few things about your computer. First and foremost, PC VR headsets are not supported by MacOS. Next up, you’ll need to know your PC’s specs. Expand the section below if you don’t already know where to find that info.

Video card
CPU
RAM
Video Output

GPU

Press the Start button and type ‘device manager’, select it from the list
In Device Manager, expand Display Adapters, your video card is listed beneath

CPU & RAM

Press the Start button and type ‘about your PC’, select it from the list
In the About window, scroll down to find ‘Processor’ (also known as CPU) and ‘Installed RAM’

Video Output

For this you’ll need to look at the back of your computer and see which ports are available on the back, specifically on your GPU (which is usually lower):

The ports can look very similar, so look closely at the shapes of each. Remember that you will need a free port to plug your headset into.

Most headset makers provide what they call a ‘recommended’ hardware configuration for virtual reality gaming. This gives VR developers a baseline hardware target so that they can ensure the consistent FPS requirement is met. If your hardware does not meet the recommended specification, you risk dropping under framerate which can result in a choppy and uncomfortable VR experience.

The recommended specs provided by each company are relatively similar but there are some key differences worth looking at in detail:

Meta VR System Requirements

Meta Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S & Quest Pro via Quest Link

Meta Quest headsets can also play PC VR games via Quest Link. See this article for the most up to date info on Meta Quest recommended specs and supported graphics cards.

Oculus Rift S Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort
USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0+ port
OS: Windows 10+

Oculus Rift CV1 Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
Video Output: Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
USB Ports: 3x USB 3.0+ ports, 1x USB 2.0+ port
OS: Windows 10+ (Windows 7/8.1 no longer recommended)

Bigscreen VR System Requirements

Bigscreen Beyond VR 1 & 2 Specifications (only Min Spec available)

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 2070 / AMD RX 5700 or greater
CPU: “quad-core CPU”
Memory: 16GB+ RAM (inferred)
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Ports: 2x USB 3.0+ port
OS: Windows 10+

Valve VR System Requirements

Valve Index Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 / AMD RX 580 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-7500 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600 or greater
Memory: 12GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2
USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0+ port (USB 3.0 required for camera passthrough)
OS: Windows 10+, SteamOS, Linux

Check your PC: You can automatically check that you meet these specifications with the ‘Are you ready for Valve Index’ app on Steam.

Sony PlayStation VR System Requirements

Important Note: PC VR support for PSVR 2 requires an official adapter. PSVR 2 on SteamVR is officially supported by Sony, but there are some caveats when used on PC compared to PS5; read more here.

PSVR 2 Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1050 / AMD Radeon RX 5500XR or later
CPU: Intel i5-7600 / AMD Ryzen 3 3100 or later
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4 ((must have a standard DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort output port, adapters from other ports will not work)
OS: Windows 10+
Additional Requirements: Bluetooth 4.0 or later

PSVR 1

PSVR 1 does not support PC VR

HTC VR System Requirements

Vive Pro 2 Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 or greater
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500 or greater
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0+ port
OS: Windows 10+

Vive XR Elite

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD RX 580 or greater
CPU: Intel i5‑4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0+ port
USB Cable: Long USB 3.0+ cable for tethering to PC (our recommendation)
OS: Windows 10+
Router (for wireless streaming): Wi-Fi 5 / Wi-Fi 6 / Wi-Fi 6E

VIVE Focus

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD RX 580 or greater
CPU: Intel i5‑4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X or greater
Memory: 8GB+ RAM
USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0+ port
USB Cable: Long USB 3.0+ cable for tethering to PC (our recommendation)
OS: Windows 10+
Router (for wireless streaming): Wi-Fi 5 / Wi-Fi 6 / Wi-Fi 6E

HTC Vive Legacy Headsets

Vive 1 Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB), AMD RX 480 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
Memory: 4GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2+
USB Ports: 1x USB 2.0+ port
OS: Windows 7 SP1+

Vive Pro Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 / AMD Radeon Vega 56 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
Memory: 4GB+ RAM
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2+
USB Ports: 1x USB 3.0+ port
OS: Windows 10+

WMR & HP System Requirements (Oasis Required)

General Windows Mixed Reality Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD RX 470/570 or greater
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: HDMI 2.0+ or DisplayPort 1.2+ (may vary based on specific headset)
USB Port: 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+ (Note: Not supported on N versions or Windows 10 Pro in S Mode)
Bluetooth Some headsets require Bluetooth 4.0 for controller connectivity
NOTE: Due to Microsoft no longer supporting WMR, users require the free Oasis Driver via Steam

HP Reverb G1 and G2 Windows Mixed Reality Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1080 / AMD RX 5700 or greater
CPU: Intel Core i5, i7 / AMD Ryzen 5 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.3+
USB Port: 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10 (may require latest updates)

Pimax VR System Requirements

Pimax Crystal Light Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 3070 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-12400/ AMD Ryzen 7 7700X or greater
Memory: 16GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4a+
USB Port: 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax Crystal Super Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 3070 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-12500/ AMD R7-3700X or greater
Memory: 32GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Port: 1x USB 2.0+, 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax Dream Air Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 3080 / AMD RX 6800 or greater
CPU: Intel i7-13×00 / AMD R9-7900 or greater
Memory: 16GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4a+
USB Port: 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax Dream Air SE Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 3070 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-12400/ AMD Ryzen 7 7700X or greater
Memory: 16GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4a+
USB Port: 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax Legacy Headsets

Pimax Crystal Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 2080 or greater
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or greater
Memory: 16GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Port: 1x USB 2.0+, 1x USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax 8K X Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card
- Upscale Mode: NVIDIA RTX 2060 or greater
- Native Mode: NVIDIA RTX 2080 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-9400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2+
USB Port: USB 2.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax 8K Plus Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 2060 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-9400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2+
USB Port: USB 2.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax 5K Super Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1080 Ti or greater
CPU: Intel i5-9400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.2+
USB Port: USB 2.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax 5K Plus Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1070 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-9400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Port: USB 2.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pimax Artisan Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti or greater
CPU: Intel i5-9400 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
Video Output: DisplayPort 1.4+
USB Port: USB 2.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Pico VR System Requirements

Pico 4 & Pico 4 Ultra Recommended VR Specifications

Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 480 or greater
CPU: Intel i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 or greater
Memory: 8GB+
USB Port: USB 3.0+
OS: Windows 10+

Note: Headsets currently not on this list, including Steam Frame and Pico ‘Project Swan’ will be added upon their respective releases.

The post How to Tell if Your PC is VR Ready appeared first on Road to VR.

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Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Samsung Unveils More Smart Glasses Designs from Gentle Monster & Warby Parker Ahead of Fall Release

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Samsung today teased a new slate of smart glasses designs, which includes two new frames from eyewear partners Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.

The News

When Samsung and Google finally unveiled their jointly-developed smart glasses at Google I/O in May, US-based Warby Parker and South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster showed off their initial designs, seen below.

Gentle Monster (left), Warby Parker (right) | Courtesy Google & Samsung

At the time, Gentle Monster’s initial ‘cat eye’ design seemed to fill a gap in the current smart glasses milieu, which was notably before Meta revealed it had collaborated with Kylie Jenner on a strikingly similar design.

Now, at Samsung Unpacked in London, the brands have shown off two new designs, which funnily enough still don’t have names. Here’s Gentle Monster’s next design:

Courtesy Samsung, Google, Gentle Monster

And here’s Warby Parker’s next design, which is very similar to the first, albeit with a slightly less-pronounced nose bridge:

All four are ostensibly set to launch sometime this fall, making them essentially the first smart glasses to run Google’s Android XR operating system.

Much like Meta’s fleet of audio-only smart glasses, the Gentle Monster and Warby Parker frames pack in a single camera sensor for things like photo, video, and to give AI access to what you’re seeing, so it can do things like answer questions, real-time translation, and more.

That said, there’s still a lot to learn about them too, as we still don’t know specific release dates or prices for any of the pairs revealed thus far. For now, Samsung says all of the smart glasses are built on the Snapdragon AR1 Gen1 platform, and are set to offer up to nine hours on a single charge with up to seven additional full charges from the charging case.

My Take

If Samsung, Google and Co. want to beat Meta at smart glasses supremacy, the cheapest of these need to not only match (or beat) Meta at its own game, but also come in somewhere around $300 – $400. That specific range just happens to be the price of Meta’s own in-house styled Meta Glasses last month, which now lack any flashy EssilorLuxottica sub-brands.

As an aside: jettisoning Ray-Ban and Oakley for a cheaper frame feels as much a tactic by Meta to redefine what the price should be in the minds of potential buyers as it does a way of lowering costs and gathering more users before competition sets in, at whatever price.

Aside … aside, an important thing to remember is all of these smart glasses are effectively AI end points. Google/Samsung runs Gemini and Meta runs Meta AI, which leaves the former in a surprisingly advantageous position. Gemini can hook into the entire Google ecosystem, and possibly have a wider set of app integrations as a result, which could give it the edge if Google can communicate it effectively.

Personally, I’m more excited for the display-clad smart glasses models promised by Google and/or Samsung, which sound cool, but may actually be a device generation away. Whatever the case, Meta’s own $800 display glasses, Meta Ray-Ban Display, are only available in the US for the foreseeable future—which isn’t where I live—so I’m looking forward to the mounting competition so I can finally read my emails while staring deeply into a friend’s face while feigning a reassuring nod.

The post Samsung Unveils More Smart Glasses Designs from Gentle Monster & Warby Parker Ahead of Fall Release appeared first on Road to VR.

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