Sony announces an XR headset but it isn't what you think

At CES 2024, Sony announced that it is developing an extended reality (XR) headset. The company hasn’t revealed the name of the upcoming product. However, it has revealed a bunch of details as well as the design of the headset, which gives a clear idea about the product’s capabilities and target audience. Let’s take a look.

Sony is aiming this XR headset towards corporate and professional use. According to the brand, it is made for working on 3D models. In the press release about the announcement, Sony says that the product is an “immersive spatial content creation system” aimed at “supporting creators in sophisticated 3D content.” That means it is not a competitor to mixed-reality headsets, such as the Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest 3, which are aimed at consumers as entertainment and productivity devices.

Sony XR headset design and features

Sony’s XR headset looks similar to the Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest 3. However, it has one major difference compared to those devices. On the one from the Japanese company, the part that has displays and essential hardware can flip up, allowing people to quickly stop using the headset and get back to the real world. Plus, it comes with two controllers, one is a “pointing controller” that you have to hold in the dominating hand, and the other is a “ring controller” that you have to attach to a finger of the other hand.

According to Sony, the XR headset has two 1.3-inch OLED microdisplays with a 4K resolution. However, the company hasn’t revealed the exact resolution. The company says that these screens have a 96% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset, which the company announced last week.

At the moment, there’s no information about the operating system of the XR headset but people are predicting it to run on Android. Sony also says that it is collaborating with Siemens to offer NX Immersive Designer Software from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio on this product, which will allow designers to work with 3D models on the headset.

According to Sony, it will make the XR headset available “later in 2024.” The company also said that it would announce the launch date, availability details, and prices. However, it hasn’t said when that’s going to happen. If you want an XR headset but aren't someone who works on 3D models, you should wait for Samsung's upcoming XR headset.