August comes to an end. What started as a quiet continuation of July soon became a busy month of leaks, rumours, device debuts, and far more as vendors look to eye up the lucrative end-of-year holiday season and Meta Connect 2024 industry hype wave.
Moreover, this week, AWE Asia kicked off, hosting the industry’s best and brightest following an incredibly successful US edition of the AWE event series. AWE Asia set a fantastic stage for the group’s final event of the year with its AWE EU event.
Next month will be a busy period of products and promises; there will likely be a lot to digest, analyse, and understand in the coming months. 2024 is in its second half, and sooner than later, 2025 will arrive ready to deliver on or fracture the promises of XR industry leaders.
Pre-Meta Connect 2024 Rumours and News
Several news reports have surfaced this week, just a month before Meta Connect 2024, shedding light on developments at Reality Labs.
Rumours indicate that Mark Zuckerberg’s company scrapped a prototype for a Quest Pro successor this week. However, recent reports suggest that Meta is also working on a controller-less MR headset with the codename Puffin.
According to insiders speaking to The Information, Meta is working on “Puffin,” a controller-less MR headset designed for everyday use. Like the Vision Pro, the prototype uses user tracking for spatial interactions. Moreover, reports suggest the device will be incredibly lightweight, weighing only 110 grams.
The news came after similar insider reports suggesting that Meta is discontinuing an upcoming Quest Pro 2-like prototype model called ‘La Jolla.’ According to insiders, the La Jolla prototype, initially planned for release in the coming years, used similar display technology to the Apple Vision Pro to offer an alternative to the breakout device. However, Meta cancelled La Jolla due to the cost of the competitive OLED display technology.
Furthermore, this week, Meta controversially announced the discontinuation of Spark, its well-known AR content creation and development suite for distributing AR content on Meta’s social media services, to focus on AR smart glasses.
This means developers can no longer create basic AR content using Spark for Meta’s smartphone social media platforms. However, AR integrations on platforms like Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook will still be available, but only first-party Meta AR content will be accessible on these applications.
The discontinuation of Meta Spark seems to be a way for Meta to have more control over the distribution of AR content across its applications. This move may be part of Meta’s efforts to focus on AR smart glasses in the future.
Meta has described the discontinuation as a “difficult decision,” the service will officially close on January 14, 2024. After this date, third-party AR Spark content will no longer be accessible, but Meta’s first-party content will remain. Additionally, Meta will be closing its related services, including Spark Studio, Spark Player, and Spark Hub.
Looking ahead, Meta posted a job listing for a Business Development Manager at its Reality Labs division. The listing states that the role will help with the company’s global launch deals and support an AR product roadmap.
Moreover, information about Meta’s Quest 3s device leaked through a Dekra certification, indicating that Meta is close to releasing a new XR product to the public. Although details about the Meta Quest 3s are limited, some specifications include a Fresnel lens system, full-colour passthrough, and 256GB of storage.
Unity to Integrate Vagon’s RT3D Streaming Service
This week, Unity, a leading XR and RT3D content creation engine, announced a new partnership with Vagon, experts in 3D content streaming. The partnership will use Vagon’s AR/VR/MR streaming technology to improve accessibility for XR immersive experiences and applications on various devices.
As part of the partnership, Vagon’s solutions will be available as a “Unity Verified Solution,” allowing the service to integrate as a native RT3D streaming application on the Unity Editor SDK.
Vagon also predicts that the demand for RT3D content streaming will increase as AI advances lead to the creation of high-quality XR environments.
The Unity-compatible Vagon Streams solution offers low-latency streaming of 3D content, catering to enterprise applications such as architectural visualization projects, product configurators, virtual worlds, and car design workflows.
Before partnering with Unity, Vagon became a part of NVIDIA’s ecosystem, which provided the company with the latest NVIDIA hardware to enhance its understanding of 3D streaming on different devices.
Given the expected growth in XR and various form factors, readers need to pay attention to RT3D content streaming solutions and partnerships like Unity and Vagon. This technology could play a crucial role in the widespread adoption of XR devices.
New Details on Samsung’s XR Headset Revealed
Significant leaks have surfaced this week, providing potential details about Samsung’s upcoming XR headset. The leaks, which come from a GeekBench listing, mark the first substantial information about the device. It’s apparent that Samsung is working on this XR wearable as part of its broader mobile hardware ecosystem, and it seems likely to debut around 2024 or 2025.
The leaked details include 16GB of RAM, a 2.36GHz processor, and compatibility with the Android 14 framework. Further leaks confirm that Samsung’s device will use a 6-core Android 14 chipset, similar to the popular Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset. Earlier this year, Qualcomm unveiled its XR2+ Gen 2 Platform, with Samsung and Google as partners, which set the stage for the upcoming Samsung XR headset.
While the leaks didn’t reveal all the details, they indicate that Samsung is progressively moving towards fully disclosing its upcoming XR device.
AR Smart Contact Lenses Due in 2026 – AWE Asia 2024
During AWE Asia 2024, XPANCEO, a deep-tech firm, unveiled its latest development in AR smart contact lenses, building upon a significant reveal earlier in the year. At the conference, XPANCEO exhibited five advanced AR smart contact lens hardware prototypes and hinted at the release of a fully functional prototype by the end of 2026.
XPANCEO presented various versions of its AR contact lenses tailored to different use cases and end users, allowing AWE event attendees to experience the devices firsthand.
One of the prototypes is designed to assist individuals with color blindness by enhancing color perception using its display technology, which is “thinner than a human hair” and adjusts lighting to improve contrast.
Another prototype features optical verification tools for digital tasks such as payments, fund transfers, and access to restricted working environments. Additionally, this prototype underscores XPANCEO’s commitment to providing a secure device amid concerns regarding safety and privacy associated with outward-facing cameras on smart glasses.
