Meta is continuing development towards its goal of creating a VR experience that seamlessly blends the real and the virtual worlds. In its pursuit, two new VR headsets are in development but their prototypes are ready to be shown off soon. One of the two headsets is capable of above retinal resolution as it comes with significantly enhanced resolution, brightness, and contrast compared to the Meta Quest 3. The other headset offers a much wider FOV (field of view), close to what the human eye can see.
Detailed in the Meta blog titled “Windows on the Future,” the company will be demoing two prototype VR headsets at SIGGRAPH 2025 scheduled for August 10 to August 14. The first headset, called ‘Tiramisu: Hyperrealistic VR,’ boasts roughly 3x contrast, 3.6x pixels per degree (PPD), and up to 14x brightness compared to that of the Quest 3 (buy on Amazon). This results in what Meta is calling an above retinal resolution (exceeds visual acuity) for the most real looking VR experience ever, complimented by the dual high resolution µOLED displays. This hyperrealism does come at the cost of FOV which is limited to 33 inches by 33 inches. Also, the Tiramisu is bulkier and heavier than commercial VR headsets.
Interestingly, this high resolution is so hard to drive that Meta had to rely on DLSS 3 (Deep Learning Super Sampling) to run the Unreal Engine 5-based demo, which it will showcase at SIGGRAPH 2025.
The second headset, called the Boba 3, focuses more on FOV. It brings a horizontal FOV of 180 degrees and a vertical FOV of 120 degrees. This is significantly wider than the Quest 3’s 110 degrees and 96 degrees, respectively. The resolution has been bumped up a little to 30 PPD, compared to Quest 3’s 25 PPD. The Boba 3 uses similar lens technology as the Quest 3 and the VR prototype is lighter compared to the Quest 3+Elite strap combo, making the form factor more commercially viable.
As for when these two headsets will be commercially available is unclear at this point. From the looks of it, the Boba 3 seems much closer to reaching mass production while the Tiramisu seems more like a proof of concept.
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