Meta’s Prototype Headsets Show Off The Future Of Mixed Reality

Meta’s user VR headsets are already among the best you tin get for their value points, but astatine a convention adjacent week, nan institution is showing disconnected immoderate impressive-sounding investigation prototypes that could beryllium a peek astatine what its headsets mightiness beryllium tin of successful nan future. 

One headset, called “Tiramisu,” brings a “new milestone for realism successful VR,” Meta says in a blog post. Tiramisu has “high opposition — astir 3x that of Meta Quest 3 — mixed pinch an angular solution of 90 pixels per grade (PPD) — 3.6x that of Quest 3 — and brightness up to 1,400 nits — 14x that of Quest 3.” There are apparently immoderate trade-offs, including that it’s “bulkier and heavier” than user headsets disposable coming and has a constricted section of position (FOV), but it’s “the closest we’ve travel to a ocular acquisition that passes nan ocular Turing trial yet.”

Two different headsets, nan “Boba 3” and nan “Boba 3 VR,” alternatively person a very wide FOV. While nan Quest 3 has a horizontal FOV of 110 degrees and a vertical FOV of 96 degrees, nan Boba 3 headsets person a horizontal FOV of 180 degrees and vertical FOV of 120 degrees. That horizontal FOV brings nan headsets overmuch person to nan FOV of nan quality ocular system, which Meta says is “roughly” 200 degrees.

The Boba 3 headsets, which leverage “displays successful wide accumulation and akin lens technologies to those recovered successful Quest 3,” person a show solution per oculus of 4K by 4K. That’s higher than nan 3K by 3K show solution per oculus of past year’s Boba 2 prototype and nan 2K by 1K show solution per oculus of nan erstwhile Boba 1 prototype.

The prototype headsets will beryllium shown astatine adjacent week’s SIGGRAPH 2025 conference, and I urge checking retired Meta’s blog station to spot videos of them successful action. While Meta says they are “purely investigation prototypes, pinch caller technologies that whitethorn ne'er make their measurement into a user product,” you tin spot really they mightiness yet lead to headsets that tin connection overmuch much immersive VR experiences.