Throughout a whirlwind three days of Augmented World Expo USA 2025 in Lengthy Seaside, California, I examined out demos from a few of the greatest names in XR, whereas additionally trying out prototypes from start-ups that would change the business.
Properly-known XR manufacturers used AWE 2025 to announce main XR tasks: Qualcomm introduced an AR chip able to on-device AI, Snap promised new, light-weight AR Specs in 2026, and XREAL shared extra particulars on its Android XR-enabled glasses.
However I noticed way more on the present ground. Listed below are all the AWE 2025 highlights I noticed or examined that individuals will discover attention-grabbing!
A show that tracks your eyes with no digital camera
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Kopin Company focuses on enterprise merchandise and show parts. At their sales space, I wore a light-weight surgical HMD and a night-vision AR helmet for troopers’ focusing on and steering. I additionally checked out their ultra-bright microLED show, the in-vogue tech for AR glasses and smartwatches.
However Kopin’s most promising tech for shoppers is its NeuralDisplay. It makes use of “conventional RGB pixels, image-sensing pixels, and superior sign processing algorithms” to trace your eye motion and neurological response in a practical VR show.
I noticed the tech in motion at AWE (and you may see a video instance beneath). The Kopin engineer shone a flashlight into his eye, and the show instantly detected his pupil dilation and adjusted the brightness and distinction to forestall any discomfort.
The model they confirmed off at AWE, constructed on OLED however appropriate with microLED, can modify the show’s content material robotically to match the consumer’s gaze and simulate depth.
It will possibly monitor information just like the consumer’s blinking charge to guage if the particular person is fatigued or allow foveated rendering, all while not having any SoC processing energy. And within the case of army functions (or FPS video games), this tech might decide that the consumer is not trying within the course of a risk and information their gaze that manner.
It is nonetheless an in-progress prototype that wants silicon enhancements to allow higher shade accuracy and sensitivity. However CEO Michael Murray stated that they proved mistaken the naysayers who “stated we could not pull it off,” and that corporations like Meta, Apple, and Anduril will probably be very involved in licensing their patent in order that they’ll shed the burden of their eye-tracking cameras. We’ll see if this occurs!
Viture’s [REDACTED] XR glasses and Swap 2 gaming
I’ve to be imprecise about this entry, as Viture — maker of XR gaming glasses just like the Viture Professional XR — confirmed me its next-generation glasses at AWE however instructed me I could not reveal something besides to “tease” readers and “get them excited for what’s coming.”
To keep away from any bother, I will quote with out remark this Tom’s Information article noting that the subsequent Viture XR glasses will “be the primary to make use of Sony’s newest Micro-OLED panels” with a “sharper, brighter and wider discipline of view than the present Professionals’ 46-degree FoV. It additionally advised Viture will promote “a number of specs,” together with one which helps 6 levels of freedom (6DoF). Certain sounds promising, if true!
What I will tease is straightforward: Viture’s upcoming units modified my perspective on XR glasses, and now I desperately need its new [redacted] glasses for my Nintendo Swap 2 and Steam Deck.
I performed some Road Fighter on Viture’s Swap 2 utilizing the Professional Cellular Dock, which attaches to the again to stream content material to XR glasses whereas charging the console. And their enhanced {hardware} helped promote me on handheld gaming with a TV-sized display screen whereas enjoyable in mattress with my handheld console — in a manner last-gen XR glasses with dimmer, low-FoV shows by no means might.
So be careful quickly for Viture’s upcoming lineup of XR glasses!
Niantic Spatial’s Visible Positioning System tour information
Good glasses with multimodal AI like Ray-Ban Meta glasses have you ever take a photograph of an object or landmark to investigate it. However the eventual objective for AR glasses is to make use of GPS and gaze monitoring to know with precision what you are , to be able to present correct information. And Niantic Spatial is engaged on that system.
The previous Pokémon Go makers took me to a road subsequent to the AWE conference heart the place they’d utilized their Visible Positioning System (VPS) and had me put on AR Snap Spectacles.
Their little XR assistant, Dot, then served as a tour information. If I tapped my fingers collectively and requested in regards to the mosaic art work at my ft, it might describe the artwork fashion, artist, and metropolis initiative behind it, with choices to be taught extra. Or if I requested in regards to the constructing throughout the road, it might inform me about its historical past as a comedy membership.
The thought behind Niantic’s VPS is that they’re going to construct an academic AR equal to Google Maps that is “impartial of particular {hardware} distributors,” so Android XR and Meta glasses homeowners can be taught in regards to the world with “centimeter-level” geolocation. They’ve 1.5 million pre-mapped places already, and so they supply “non-public VPS” for corporations to make their very own AR academic excursions; I would think about it working properly for a museum, or a theme park like Disneyland.
The demo itself was a bit finicky. Dot often refused to reply my questions, blathering on about no matter it thought I used to be subsequent to. The Snap Spectacles battery reached important lows after about quarter-hour of Q&A, with the show fighting the sunny climate; it is laborious to say when AR glasses {hardware} will probably be prepared for a metropolis tour. However when it labored, it labored very properly, and I might see each youngsters and curious adults loving this software program…as soon as the AR {hardware} is prepared for it.
Sony’s premium XYN headset
The Sony XYN (pronounced “zin”), like Samsung Mission Moohan, has the premium Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset with tons of RAM and micro-OLED high quality. If I hadn’t already demoed Moohan final month, the insane 3552×3840 decision would have blown my thoughts. However with the ability to rise up near a digital guide web page and browse each phrase with out straining, or look at the small print of a portray, remains to be past what any present VR headset can supply.
Sony additionally confirmed off refined finger controllers you can squeeze to pick and transfer spatial content material. Hand monitoring works fairly properly on most up-to-date headsets just like the Quest and Imaginative and prescient Professional, however having a wearable controller provides extra precision so you are not vainly fighting missed digital camera inputs whereas attempting to work.
Virtually nobody will find yourself utilizing Sony’s premium XYN headset; it is designed for “spatial content material creation,” which means solely enterprise customers keen to drop almost 5 grand to create CADs will want one. But it surely’s nonetheless a promising signal of how immersive XR headsets are getting, and I really like the flip-up show design for productiveness.
Android XR good ring controls
On the Qualcomm present sales space, they’d an area for KiWear, a wise ring reference design for gesture controls for AR, XR, and good glasses. And it is surprisingly correct and intuitive.
Related to RayNeo X3 Professional glasses, the ring might management the show UI utilizing easy finger actions or rotations round your finger. The IMU might differentiate between pinches away from or in the direction of you for various features, and the built-in PPG might show well being information on the glasses.
You can too attain the ring out to faucet digital objects or use the ring touchpad to pick or scroll. It even labored for correct gaming controls when enjoying Fruit Ninja.
Provided that Qualcomm introduced that Android XR will help good ring controls, I’m wondering if the subsequent Samsung Galaxy Ring will probably be extra particularly designed for XR controls to pair with Moohan and its good glasses. I used to be by no means offered on the concept of a wise ring controller, however the KiWear ring’s accuracy modified my thoughts.
All the opposite AWE 2025 highlights
bHaptics’ TactSuit Professional and TactGloves add haptics help for over 100 Meta Quest video games, together with a lot of our favourite VR titles. I’ve seen it at XR occasions for years however lastly tried it at AWE 2025, immersing myself in an area demo the place I repaired my ship and pet my purring cat.
Other than the TactSuit making me a bit ticklish, I walked away impressed by the expertise and the way it helped me sink into the expertise. My outfit would value greater than my Quest 3, and I am unsure I need to really feel discomfort throughout shooters, however I undoubtedly suppose VR energy customers would get a kick out of it.
But when we’re speaking immersion, I’ve to say Wherever Bungee VR, which received AWE’s Finest in Present Playground award. You climb onto a contraption and actually tip over to simulate the sensation of bungee leaping off of a Tokyo Skyscraper, with wind machines to assist simulate the true terror of falling.
I feel this type of contraption could be good as sideshows for VR exhibition facilities like Sandbox VR, and I would be curious to see what different excessive sports activities like skydiving or base leaping might be recreated in a setup like this.
Samsung confirmed off its new OLED on Silicon (OLEDoS) shows at AWE, together with a 1.4-inch RGB panel that hits 5,000 pixels per inch and a brighter 1.3-inch, 4,200 PPI panel that hits a whopping 20,000 nits. For context, the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional hits about 3,400 PPI, whereas Moohan allegedly hits 3,800 PPI.
My cellphone digital camera could not presumably seize the visible high quality, however I might lean up in opposition to the show and see ranges of shade, element, and brightness that blow most present VR headset shows out of the water. So it is thrilling to see Samsung Show problem Sony in an XR show arms race.