AWE USA 2026 is returning to Long Beach, CA on June 15–18. As the event’s Premiere Media Partner, we’re excited to give our readers the opportunity to win one of several free passes.

AWE USA is our ‘must-go’ annual XR event. This year’s rendition is expected to draw more than 5,000 attendees, 3,250 exhibitors, 400 speakers, and will feature a 150,000 sqft expo floor.

We’re giving away several General Admission passes which offer access to all four days of the event, including talks, panels, and the […]

Snap is laying off around 1,000 employees, the Snapchat parent confirmed today. Specs Inc., its recently formed AR glasses subsidiary, is reportedly not being affected, however, as the cuts are aimed at further insulating the traditional Snapchat business from its new AR subsidiary.

Spiegel announced the news in an internal memo, published by Business Insider, which is confirmed to affect 1,000 team members, including 16% of Snap’s full-time employees. Spiegel also confirmed Snap has now closed more […]

An ACLU-led coalition representing more than 70 civil liberties advocacy groups are pushing back against Meta’s reported plans to bring facial recognition to its smart glasses.

The New York Times initially reported in February that Meta is currently exploring who should be recognizable through its smart glasses, as the company ostensibly hopes to bring some form of facial recognition to Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses.

According to the NYT report, possible options include “recognizing people a user knows because they are […]

Blackmagic Design unveiled its next VR camera, the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, which is targeting live immersive video production specially for Apple Vision Pro.

The new VR camera system pairs dual 8K×8K RGBW sensors with a 100G Ethernet interface, which the company says is designed to handle the bandwidth required for stereoscopic, high–frame rate capture—up to 90 fps at full resolution, Blackmagic says.

Each sensor is said to deliver up to 16 stops of dynamic range and uses an RGBW pixel layout intended […]

Pimax recently announced it was being forced to change a key component in all Crystal Super PC VR headsets and display accessories moving forward, effectively making one of VR’s most modular headsets decidedly less so.

The News

Crystal Super is renowned for being highly modular thanks to its ability to swap optical engines, which includes a 50 PPD, 57 PPD, micro-OLED, and ultrawide (140° FOV) modules.

Launched just last year, Crystal Super initially shipped with a custom 70-pin connector, which married up […]

AWE USA 2026 is returning to the Long Beach, CA on June 15–18. As the most important annual XR event on our calendar, we’re excited to once again be able to offer a 20% discount on tickets to AWE USA 2026 as the event’s Premiere Media Partner. Here’s a look at why we’re going (and think you should too).

The key thing that makes AWE USA our ‘must-go’ event is its scope and focus. While there are many great annual events out there in the world of […]

Apple is ostensibly gearing up to release its first pair of smart glasses next year. A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman however maintains the Cupertino tech giant is now evaluating several styles and color combinations, as well as a distinct camera lens shape.

The report largely echoes previous rumors, which maintain the device (internally codenamed N50) could be unveiled at the end of 2026 or early 2027, with launch slated for sometime in […]

Snap’s new XR subsidiary Specs Inc and Qualcomm announced a multi-year partnership for Snap’s upcoming AR glasses, with Qualcomm pledging Snapdragon chips for future iterations. The companies also reaffirmed that Snap’s next-gen Specs are coming “later this year.”

Specs Inc, which was formed by Snap in January to handle its XR efforts, is working with Qualcomm in what the companies call a “long-term strategic roadmap” which aims to rapidly bring things like “on-device AI, cutting-edge […]

Samsung and Google announced a major software update to Galaxy XR, the Android XR-based headset, which includes deep enterprise support, automatic 3D conversion of photos and videos, and more.

One of the biggest bits in the update, now available on Samsung Galaxy XR, is the inclusion of Android Enterprise, the Google-led initiative that includes built-in security, management, and app deployment tools for workplace-focused Android devices.

This includes support for fully managed deployments with flexible enrollment options like zero-touch, QR setup, and DPC provisioning, aimed […]

Maze Theory, the XR studio behind Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom and Doctor Who: The Edge of Time, announced it’s working on a mixed reality game based on Andy Weir’s novel and recent film, Project Hail Mary (2026).

Developed in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios, Project Hail Mary: Journey Among the Stars is slated to feature an entirely new, original chapter developed in collaboration with Andy Weir specifically for the game.

Meta and game engine creator Unity announced they’re extending multi‑year platform support and an enterprise agreement that aims to deepen the companies’ VR partnership.

The News

The companies’ collaboration dates back to the early Oculus Rift era of the mid-2010s, when Unity became one of the first engines to support consumer VR alongside Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.

While neither Meta nor Unity has previously disclosed the timing of any sort of formal multi-year partnership agreements, Meta has clearly encouraged Unity in the […]

Kluge Interactive, the developer behind popular VR rhythm game Synth Riders (2018), confirmed the studio has suffered a “major round of layoffs” earlier this year.

Kluge Interactive has been busy creating games for Horizon Worlds, Roblox, and bringing Synth Riders to new non-VR platforms, like Nintendo Switch.

Earlier this year though, Meta announced it was pulling the plug on first-party studios amid the announcement it was shifting priorities away from ongoing Quest support for Horizon Worlds, making it “almost exclusively” a mobile app.

As first reported […]

Valve announced its wireless PC VR streaming software, Steam Link, is getting additional support for Apple Vision Pro, although VR game support is still on the to-do list.

The News

Valve announced in a Steam community post that it’s releasing a native Steam Link app for visionOS, which lets Vision Pro users play Steam games via a Wi-Fi connection to their PCs.

Valve’s Sam Lantinga says in the forum post that the update improves network performance, allows streaming up to 4K resolutions, and allows you to […]