u/AR_MR_XR

▶ We share why we decided to bring lens development and manufacturing in-house, and what it takes to combine prescription vision correction with a waveguide display. From custom optical design and digital surfacing to coating, hardening, and quality control, every step is designed to keep the lenses thin, clear, and comfortable enough for everyday wear. We also explore the larger principle behind this work: smart glasses should enhance your digital vision without compromising how you see the real world.

BASF and Meta-Bounds partner to develop customized structural components for consumer AR smartglasses. Combining BASF’s advanced polymers with Meta-Bounds’ expertise in resin diffractive optical waveguides, the collaboration aims to scale mass production of lightweight, cost-effective AR hardware.

The joint R&D focuses on integrating BASF’s Ultramid® (PA) engineering plastics and other innovative materials into precision AR components. Specifically, the Ultramid® LIGHT series uses an optimized glass-bead architecture to deliver high flowability for thin-wall molding and a superior stiffness-to-weight ratio. With a density of 0.77–0.95 g/cm³, it reduces component weight by 20–40% compared to standard glass-fiber-reinforced plastics, achieving a 15–20% weight reduction for the total device.

The partnership also targets critical optimizations for miniaturized, highly integrated devices. These include enhancing structural strength, improving thermal management, and refining molding processes to boost yield rates and lower manufacturing costs.

Additionally, the Ultramid® LIGHT series features 25–39% bio-based content, lowering the hardware's carbon footprint while maintaining the crucial creep resistance and durability required for all-day wearable frames.

^(Source: BASF Performance Materials / Meta-Bounds)

According to Omdia's new release, AR shipments are hitting 4.1 million units as tech companies pull cash away from heavy standalone headsets to focus on lightweight smart glasses and OST video glasses.

On the flip side, Omdia expects VR displays to drop another 4% in 2026, landing at 10.5 million units. The report points to the usual issues: bulky designs, high power use, a lack of must-have apps, and companies like Meta and Apple slowing down their release schedules. But while Omdia predicts a noticeable VR recovery by 2027, the article doesn't actually explain what will trigger that turnaround.

https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2026/june/ar-display-growth-drives-near-eye-display-market-to-675-million-dollars-in-2026

Travel agency H.I.S. has launched XploreRide New York, a 45-minute mixed reality bus tour operating across Manhattan as of July 1, 2026.

The experience runs on a specialized mobility XR platform that effectively turns the moving vehicle into a shared spatial environment. By continuously synchronizing live vehicle telemetry and passenger positional data with the physical cityscape outside, the system anchors digital assets to real-world landmarks like Times Square with near-zero latency. This high-precision environmental mapping mitigates the sensory mismatch that typically causes motion sickness in mobile XR setups. Built to coincide with the America250 celebrations, the platform also features avatar integration, allowing users to inject their scanned digital twins directly into the spatial narrative. Tickets run $60, with a 50% early adopter discount available through July 11.

https://xploreride.com/nyc-virtual-tours/

These new images come from the "Galaxy Glasses Manager App".

More app screenshots: https://sammyguru.com/exclusive-samsung-galaxy-glasses-manager-app-first-look/

Faux pas. It’s one thing for the "expert technical analysts" at IDTechEx to judge the long-term comfort of AR glasses after wearing them for just a few minutes at a crowded expo potentially without proper ergonomic fitting. But their coverage blunders into a much bigger mistake when they start criticizing the weight and form factor of the newly announced $2,100 Specs because: What they really tried was the old dev kit from 2024.

There were no public demos for the new 132-gram Specs. The bulky headset the analyst actually put on—and then critiqued as the upcoming product—was the old, much heavier 226-gram model.

Source: https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-article/snaps-specs-polarize-opinions-at-awe-usa-2026/34922

Samsung Display is constructing a new production base for XR microdisplays and next-generation smartphone displays at its Asan campus, backed by a 67-trillion-won ($48 billion) investment. In a June 29 press release, Samsung highlighted these microdisplays as a core component for upcoming AR, VR, and MR devices, noting that immersive hardware will see full-scale growth alongside the AI era.

According to supply chain analysts, this investment aligns with Samsung's plans to scale up the Direct-patterned RGB Micro-OLED technology it acquired from eMagin for the consumer market. Industry monitors note that Samsung is currently finalizing equipment orders for the new lines, which are scheduled to be installed in 2027, with mass production expected to begin in 2028.

The footage is from Applied Materials, edited by me. I missed their speech at AWE, so I'm catching up now with what they announced 👍

Applied Materials Unveils SENZ, a Fully Integrated Visual System for Next-Gen Smart Glasses. SENZ™ is an integrated ambient visual platform that combines ...

• waveguide optics
• light engine
• sensing
• vision correction
• and electronic dimming technology

... in a single system designed for AI-powered next-generation display smart glasses. As a complete co-optimized solution, SENZ will reduce time-to-market and manufacturing complexity while enabling more flexible product designs and premium user experiences.

The smart glasses market has historically been constrained by fragmented supply chains and disparate components. SENZ will address this by delivering all core visual components as a single cohesive system, eliminating traditional engineering tradeoffs between performance and form factor. By giving customers a complete co-optimized solution, SENZ will reduce time-to-market and manufacturing complexity while enabling more flexible product designs and premium user experiences.

Brand partners can now create bespoke products using the SENZ system solutions and reference designs. Key partnerships supporting the SENZ launch include:

• A strategic collaboration with GlobalFoundries that allows Applied to produce its waveguides at scale, leveraging GF’s high-volume fabrication facility in Singapore;
• A collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies as part of Snapdragon START, bringing our engineering excellence in design and manufacturing to support AI-powered, next-generation smart glasses;
• A joint development program with EssilorLuxottica to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation intelligent optical systems for augmented reality and AI-powered smart eyewear.

Raypai secured Series B+++ funding to launch a new facility capable of producing over 1 million reflective (geometric) waveguides annually. This is the type of waveguide used in the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses.

Co-led by Pufeng Capital and Guozhong Capital, the investment will rapidly scale Raypai's advanced manufacturing capabilities to meet the surging global demand for full-color AI+AR smart glasses. The new factory is slated to begin operations in September 2026. As the industry transitions from monochrome green to full-color consumer smart glasses, geometric optical waveguides are increasingly becoming the standard for high-performance AR, balancing a lightweight form factor with superior display quality and mature manufacturing processes.

Raypai’s geometric waveguides solve critical hardware and social bottlenecks:

• Forward light leakage is kept strictly below 0.5%. By eliminating the glowing green light visible to outsiders, it removes the social barrier that isolates the wearer and ensures natural eye contact.
• Many existing waveguide modules suffer from high power consumption and overheating, limiting displays to under 20% of the screen (basic notifications) and restricting camera previews. Raypai’s high optical efficiency drastically reduces power consumption at equivalent brightness levels, allowing for continuous, full-screen usage (like video playback) without overheating.
• Leverages Total Internal Reflection (TIR) to generate high-quality, full-color visuals that rival standard monitors.
• Guarantees vibrant, clear displays even under complex or harsh outdoor lighting conditions.
• High Transmittance: The design closely mimics ordinary eyewear, meeting the aesthetic and comfort demands for all-day, all-weather use.
• Unlike emerging experimental optics, this process provides a highly stable foundation for rapid cost reduction across the supply chain.

𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Powered by proprietary 2D pupil expansion technology, Raypai's flagship modules integrate a geometric waveguide with a high-quality LCOS architecture. These binocular, full-color HD displays feature a 50+ degree FOV, a 15x10 mm eyebox, and an optical efficiency exceeding 2000 nit/lm.

𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆. With the AI glasses market booming, Raypai's current facilities are approaching saturation. The upcoming manufacturing base will feature multiple advanced optical production lines to hit the 1M+ annual capacity milestone, making Raypai one of the few geometric waveguide manufacturers globally capable of million-tier mass production. By controlling a complete, end-to-end proprietary technology stack—spanning optical design, precision machining, mass manufacturing, and quality control—Raypai is positioning itself as a vital core supplier for the global AR supply chain.

Source: Raypai

Rokid launches full AR Glasses with 6DoF and the most powerful XR chip: Snapdragon Reality Elite. This SoC seems to be in a wired compute puck while the BES2800 in the glasses does some sensor processing. The glasses pack a triple-camera setup for solid tracking and AI, a 58° FoV via prism optics and lenses with electrochromic dimming.

As for what you can actually do with it, you can pin virtual screens anywhere in your room and physically walk around to see the back of the windows. The headset supports native volumetric video, on-device multimodal AI and Rokid showed off a demo with a virtual pet. The use case that they showed in AI generated footage, but not as actual apps, were vast: think location-based entertainment and cultural tourism, education, medical, and industrial AR in addition to spatial gaming for consumer.

Here's an autotranslation of what Rokid's CEO said during the announcement:

14 years ago, I had a conversation with my former boss back at Alibaba. We predicted that AI and AR would fundamentally change how people live. But I took it a step further—I said they would eventually merge into a single entity. We couldn't quite pull that off back then. Over two years ago, we launched a product called AR Lite. Why "Lite"? Honestly, because we didn't feel quite ready to call it true AR. Spatial computing has always been our obsession here at Rokid. Today, while AI is naturally hogging the spotlight, our team has quietly achieved a massive breakthrough in spatial computing—and we have a huge surprise for you. Today, we are finally dropping the "Lite."

Over the past decade, the industry essentially split into two camps. One group took the VR route, eventually slapping on a camera for passthrough—a technique known as Video See-Through. The other camp, led by us, focused on allowing the naked eye to see the real world while seamlessly overlaying digital data on top of it. We call this Optical See-Through. Rokid has walked this path with unwavering conviction. You've probably noticed the industry is gradually reaching a consensus: VST isn't looking as promising as it once did, and the market is pivoting back to OST. Rokid has spent 12 solid years accumulating expertise in this exact space. Now, we can proudly drop the "Lite" and introduce you to the true Rokid AR experience.

Introducing Rokid AR: The True Spatial Computer. Rokid AR is the true spatial computer you've been waiting for. Let me walk you through some of its core capabilities:

• Advanced Triple-Camera System: We've integrated a sophisticated three-camera setup designed for both spatial computing and AI. We have two dedicated tracking cameras housed in the temples specifically for spatial SLAM, alongside a central, full-color RGB camera in the nose bridge dedicated to AI environment recognition. Together, they enable flawless, true 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom).
• Advanced 6DoF Spatial Anchoring: If you used AR Lite, you might remember our 6DoF setup where you sat in the middle of a virtual console with three massive screens. With this new version, you can pin virtual windows anywhere in your physical space. You can even physically walk around and look at the back of a virtual window to see what it looks like from behind!
• Electrochromic Dimming: Whether you're indoors or outdoors, the lenses instantly adapt to ambient lighting, ensuring a seamless and comfortable viewing experience in any environment.
• Massive Visual Upgrade: Our previous Max model had an FOV of around 40-something degrees. We've now increased the FOV by 20% and the display size by 40%, jumping straight to a massive 58-degree ultra-wide FOV.
• Premium Audio: We’ve paired these visuals with an ultimate audio experience featuring phenomenal EQ tuning.
• Unprecedented Processing Power: A lot of people have asked me, "You're calling this new product Rokid AR, but do you actually have the processing power to back it up?" Today, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with Qualcomm to debut the Snapdragon Reality Elite! This is, without a doubt, the single most powerful spatial computing processor in the industry today. Bar none. We want you to be constrained only by your imagination—never by compute power.

In our demo area today, we are offering native support for volumetric video—what we call 4D. Remember that iconic scene in The Matrix where Neo dodges bullets in slow motion? That exact 360-degree effect is possible right here. If you check out the demos outside, we have three default 4D experiences loaded up:

• A Virtual Pet: A small cat that feels like it’s actually in the room with you. You can interact with it and walk a full 360 degrees around it.
• Live-Action 4D: A fully immersive live-action video of Tim [Pan Tianhong, the founder of MediaStorm and our official brand ambassador]
• Rocket Launch: A stunning rocket launch that you can view from any angle, up close or far away.

We are introducing full spatial perception capabilities. This means real-time semantic understanding of your physical space and on-device 3D spatial reconstruction. Advanced algorithms—including Gaussian Splatting—are generated locally on the headset in real-time. Furthermore, we are actively exploring the on-device multimodal fusion of vision and voice, and we believe Rokid AR is the perfect vehicle for this.

Looking ahead 10 to 20 years, we are 100% convinced the future is about merging physical AI with the physical world. Many people keep asking me: "When will you merge the lightweight everyday Rokid Glasses and the powerful Rokid AR into a single product?" I'll give you a hard timeline: 3 to 5 years. Give us 3 to 5 years, and we will pack all the capabilities of today's Rokid AR directly into our standard, lightweight Rokid Glasses.

The French mixed reality startup Lynx went bankrupt in March, its assets auctioned by a court liquidator. After EssilorLuxottica outbid two competitors, a commercial judge approved the sale, and the legal appeal window has closed unchallenged. While awaiting official publication of the winning bidder, a former Lynx employee updated their LinkedIn to an R&D Manager role at EssilorLuxottica this month. This hire, alongside the asset purchase, signals a clear R&D play: the consumer Lynx R2 headset is shelved.

Why Acquire Lynx, and What Could They Do With It?

EssilorLuxottica likely targeted Lynx’s underlying SLAM (positional tracking) and Video See-Through (VST) software rather than its bulky hardware, especially as the industry shifts toward lightweight AI and Optical See-Through (OST) glasses. Optimizing tracking on Snapdragon chips requires complex, custom runtimes that go far beyond basic Qualcomm APIs. Integrating these heavy sensor-fusion workloads into wearable frames introduces severe thermal and sub-millimeter calibration challenges—obstacles former Lynx engineers bring the practical expertise to manage.

While the immediate value lies in expanding their internal R&D toolkit, this tech unlocks two distinct commercial paths if productized. For direct VST, EssilorLuxottica could deploy the low-latency software stack for specialized tactical environments under their ESS or Oakley Standard Issue brands. This directly mirrors the defense sector where Anduril utilizes VST for military night vision and tactical AR applications. EssilorLuxottica could use Lynx's tech to establish a similar, independent foothold in the European defense market.

Alternatively, they can bypass VST entirely and repurpose the core image-processing and tracking algorithms for non-VST products. Lynx's sensor fusion could power world-anchored AR and spatial audio. Either route gives EssilorLuxottica an alternative to pitch to European enterprise and government clients who refuse to enter the Meta or Google ecosystems due to strict data privacy requirements.

How This Fits Their Broader AR Strategy

This acquisition is a small but complementary addition to their growing hardware infrastructure, potentially strengthening their development path for next-generation smart glasses. EssilorLuxottica recently announced converting part of its historic Agordo plant in Italy to spin up its first wearable production lines by early 2027. They also signed a joint development agreement with Applied Materials to commercialize advanced optical components like waveguides and adaptive lenses. Bringing Lynx’s tracking and camera processing algorithms into their R&D pipeline gives them foundational software tools to explore alongside broader manufacturing initiatives.

Previous News:

• Looks like there won't be a Lynx R2 - Company in Liquidation
• LYNX-R2 Augmented Reality Headset For Sale

I'm back from L.A. after AWE and I'm catching up with the news. Here's what happened:

JBD launched Roadrunner II, a 0.18 cc full-color microLED projector using a 0.1-inch panel (2.5 μm pixel-pitch, 10,160 PPI). It features 800 × 600 resolution (56% pixel upgrade over 640 × 480), 30° FOV, 33.3 PPD, 480 Hz refresh, 100:1 contrast, >95% uniformity, and 0.4 MTF at 200 lp/mm. Paired with a diffractive waveguide, it delivers 6 lumens (up to 6,000 nits in-eye) at 98 mW.

Innovision introduced Chimo P13, a 0.13-inch dual-color microLED display (4 μm subpixel pitch) and 0.15 cc optical engine supporting up to 640 × 240 resolution. Using pixel stacking, it hits 5% peak EQE for red and 3 lumens for yellow (25% APL). Its monochrome-compatible pin layout allows easy drop-in UI color upgrades without changing frame dimensions.

Saphlux partnered with Ennostar to mass-produce semi-polar microLEDs—utilizing a tilted crystal growth angle to eliminate internal interference and maximize efficiency for AR glasses and AI optical links. Concurrently, Saphlux hit mass production on monochrome silicon microLEDs via a Shaanxi Photonics OEM line (5M units/year capacity) with plans to transition from 6-inch to 12-inch wafers.

EssilorLuxottica and Applied Materials formed a long-term alliance to build an R&D lab in Silicon Valley. The joint venture combines eyewear design with advanced materials engineering to mass-produce waveguides, smart encapsulation, and light-adaptive lenses.

Quectel entered the XR ODM/OEM space with a mass-production line in Changzhou, offering full-stack assembly, PCBA testing, and XROS/OS customization. Its roadmap introduces reference designs for camera, viewing, and full-color AR glasses utilizing a "5G+AI+AR" cloud-edge collaborative computing architecture.

Lante Optics is investing 500 million RMB in Jiaxing to build an AR optics facility targeting 917 million RMB in full-capacity revenue. It will mass-produce 12-inch wafers (adding annual capacities of 200k high-index glass, 50k silicon carbide, and 50k lithium niobate) alongside 3 million cover glasses and 1.5 million color prisms.

iFlytek and Wanxin Optical partnered to develop smart glasses with professional eye protection. The deal links iFlytek's AI software with Wanxin’s optical manufacturing and established brick-and-mortar retail network for distribution and fitting.

Unijet secured a European order to print micro-patterns on AI glasses waveguides. Bypassing NIL stamping, Unijet uses ultra-precision additive inkjet printing to deposit specialized optical materials directly onto the glass, optimizing space for tight 50g device frames.

Dapu Telecom launched a full-link MEMS-TCXO clocking solution to optimize wireless stability and standby power in "glasses+phone" split-computing setups. The core MEMS-TCXO offers ±0.5ppm stability (-40°C to 105°C) at 19.2MHz~76.8MHz, drawing 2 mA with a 2 ms startup. The lineup includes an ultra-small 3D-packaged version (1.2 × 1.0 × 0.65 mm), a 250 nA companion RTC, and a 480Hz touch IC.

On June 23, a major new production facility for AR micro-nano optical components officially opened in the Lin-gang Special Area of Shanghai. Constructed by the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau and operated by Shanghai OmniLight (now merged into Goeroptics), the facility is dedicated to producing 12-inch transparent substrate wafers for AR glasses.

A Global Hub for Advanced AR Optics

Spanning approximately 261,000 square meters, this government-backed project is one of the few optical "fabs" (fabrication plants) worldwide capable of mass-producing 12-inch transparent substrate wafers.The facility focuses on the R&D and large-scale manufacturing of high-end optical products, including:

📍 AR Waveguides

📍 Electrochromic Lenses

📍 Micro-Lens Arrays (MLAs)

📍 Diffractive Optical Elements (DOEs)

The plant's technological capabilities also cover cutting-edge fields such as diffractive optical waveguide design and precision silicon carbide (SiC) processing.

Bridging the Manufacturing Gap

This specific project was signed and established in February 2023, covering over 33 acres (200 mu). In July 2025, the facility’s first lithography machine was installed, marking the transition from building construction to production readiness. To strengthen the supply chain, Shanghai OmniLight has formed strategic partnerships with domestic tech companies like SICC and AMEC. These collaborations focus on:

📍 Silicon carbide (SiC) substrate materials

📍 Micro-nano optical manufacturing processes

📍 The application of domestically produced semiconductor equipment

Notably, silicon carbide (SiC) is gaining major traction in the AR optics industry due to its high refractive index and excellent thermal conductivity. As these partnerships progress, the use of SiC substrates in optical components like AR waveguides is expected to expand significantly.

With production now fully underway, Shanghai OmniLight is set to greatly boost its wafer-level manufacturing capacity, providing critical support for the development of core AR components and the broader AR hardware supply chain.

Sources: China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, compiled by Aibang