Apple is bringing a huge visual upgrade to its Persona avatars on Vision Pro in VisionOS 26. After seeing the new system first-hand, it’s hard not to be impressed. But a major question remains—how will Apple overcome the challenge of bringing this level of fidelity to smaller headsets with even less room for the cameras that are essential for this kind of tech?
Palmer Luckey’s military tech company Anduril recently announced a partnership with Meta to build “the world’s best AR and VR systems for the US military.” In two recent public conversations, Luckey offered up some details on the XR helmet his company is building for the military and how this unlikely partnership arose years after his VR company Oculus was acquired by Meta, followed by his unceremonious firing.
Meta officially confirmed the expansion of its EssilorLuxottica partnership to include a pair of Oakley smart glasses—possibly arriving soon.
Jim Henson’s Muppets could be coming to VR following talks with Disney—possibly offering a clue at the sort of content Meta reportedly hopes to bring to its next VR headset.
HP announced last year it was going to be the first to offer hardware based on Google Beam (formerly ‘Project Starline’), the light field-based 3D videoconferencing platform. Now, HP unveiled ‘Dimension’, which is being pitched to enterprise at $25,000 a pop.
Samsung Unpacked is expected to kick off next month with the usual slate of hardware announcements, which this year could include the company’s latest foldable smartphones, Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7, and its latest Galaxy Watch 8. Rumors suggest though the company is also looking to put its upcoming XR headset, Project Moohan, in the spotlight too.
Zombie Army VR is serving up its iconic arcade-style shooting on all major VR headsets. Like the flatscreen games, it’s all about blasting every make and model of Nazi zombie, upgrading some cool WWII-era guns, and experiencing the game’s dark, neon green-drenched universe. While Zombie Army VR tailors its zombie horde action to fit on VR headsets, despite its best efforts, it still feels a little too tied to its flatscreen roots.
At WWDC this week, Apple revealed a new persistent widget system coming to Vision Pro in visionOS 26. The system will allow users to anchor widgets against walls or on surfaces that will always stay in the same place with glanceable info.
Snap, the company behind Snapchat, today announced it’s working on the next iteration of its Spectacles AR glasses (aka ‘Specs’), which are slated to release publicly sometime next year.
Sandbox VR, the location-based VR destination, is working with Netflix to create a multiplayer VR experience based on the hit TV show Stranger Things.
One of the biggest pieces of Vision Pro news from today’s WWDC is that the headset will be getting support for PSVR 2 motion controllers and a Logitech motion stylus with the release of visionOS 26. Now we’re learning more of the details, including the fact that developers will be able to publish Vision Pro apps that ‘require’ motion controllers, and those which make them ‘optional’. The change is a surprising shift compared to the hand-tracking only approach that Apple launched the headset with.
