We’ve been following the ST1080 head mounted display from Silicon Micro Display for the last few months. The company is finally getting ready to put their first product out on the market after some delays, and have announced that pre-orders for the 1080p head mounted display will begin on March 1st. In addition to the pre-order date, the company has announced a $100 discount for the first 21 days of pre-ordering.

The ST1080 was officially price at $799 in December but daring early adopters will be able to snag it for $699 from March 1-21st. It’s nice that Silicon Micro Display is giving early adopters this little gift — much better than slashing prices shortly after launch and angering those that were willing to give the product a try!

Initial orders will be limited to the US, though the company says they are working out the specifics for distribution in other countries and will have more detailed info in the coming weeks.

The ST1080 will be the first consumer-targeted 1080p head mounted display once it reaches the marketplace. The screen technology that Silicon Micro Display is using is not your typical LCD, but rather a novel technology called LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon). This technology allows the ST1080 to retain 10% transparency so that you can still see your surroundings while donning the HMD. For a full list of ST1080 specs, see here.

In addition to the consumer version of the ST1080, the ST1080 DDK (display development kit) is now available from Silicon Micro Display for $8000. Don’t let that scare you though — the company provides additional resources that are important for developers along with the DDK:

The DDK has the same specifications as the ST1080 and includes two display modules, driver electronics, control software, register map, interface hardware, available in a 3D-printed evaluation case, and limited engineering support.

The DDK is not sold directly and requires that you contact the company to inquire about purchasing one.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."