Oppo just debuted a new mixed reality headset challenging the likes of Meta’s Quest line and Apple’s upcoming “Reality Pro.”
The Oppo MR Glass Developer Edition is the latest addition to the Chinese tech company’s line of mixed reality devices, succeeding the Oppo Air Glass 2, which it released last year.
Designed to help developers create apps, the headset will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Plus chipset, the same chip that Meta’s Quest 3 headset will reportedly run on.
The MR Glass Developer Edition will also be a bulkier headset compared to the Air Glass 2 and will come with handheld controllers that allow users to interact with their surroundings.
Through the new device, the company hopes to encourage developers to create applications that will boost the market for mixed reality.
Xu Yi, Oppo director of XR technology, believes mixed reality has the “potential to become a new computing platform,” but for it to be a successful product the technology must be refined.
“Everybody wants to do AR because it has huge potential, but the technology is not there yet, it may be several years away,” he said.
Xu also likened augmented reality devices to smartphones. “Because the ideal AR is where you can wear [it] all day, with all functionalities, it will one day be comparable to size of smartphone market,” he explained.
The MR Glass Developer Edition is slated for release in China in the second half of 2023.
Its debut comes just a few days before Apple is expected to announce its highly anticipated “Reality Pro” at this year’s WDCC.
Meta Quest 3 is also scheduled to come out later this year and early testing on the device revealed it to be “far thinner and lighter” than Quest 2.
The upcoming releases from these major players will certainly set the stage for a new era in mixed reality, opening new doors for the top AR and VR companies in a rapidly evolving market.
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