The XR-4 is a mixed reality headset from Finnish startup Varjo that is targeted on the enterprise.
Varjo
Finnish mixed-reality startup Varjo on Monday launched its latest headset, the XR-4, a product it hopes to sell to large enterprise firms.
The headset, which starts at a price of $3,990, is comparable to those from Meta, Microsoft and Apple. It comes as various major tech firms are betting big on virtual and augmented reality, an area they see serving as the subsequent big shift for technology, with an impact of an analogous scale to that of the invention of the web or the cell phone.
Unlike consumer offerings from firms reminiscent of Meta, Varjo’s headset is meant for enterprise use cases. For instance, a pilot working for a serious defense contractor could use it to coach in a virtual reality simulation. Or, a surveyor could use it to map out the landscape of a giant construction site.
The XR-4 headset has two 4K displays and a 50% wider field of view compared with previous-generation devices. It also comes with brighter displays and a wider color palette than earlier devices.
“There’s a number of things which are simpler technically within the XR-4,” Varjo’s chief product officer, Patrick Wyatt, told CNBC on a call. “We now have one screen per eye which has pushed the resolution right to the bounds of that screen, so taking out some costs that way. But most significantly, it’s just a matter about scale.”
The XR-4 also has two 20-megapixel cameras on the front to enable so-called pass-through mixed reality. That is where the user can see the world around them through actual lenses embedded within the headsets, versus being completely immersed in a virtual world. It’s just like what Meta offers on its headsets and what Apple plans to incorporate on the Vision Pro.
The thought is that users can overlay digital objects on this environment on top of the physical world. CNBC tried out Varjo’s previous headset, the XR-3, in Helsinki in 2022 and its headset enabled the reporter to go right into a virtually rendered kitchen and interact with cupboard doors and touch the surface.
The XR-4 also comes with ambient light sensors and improved lidar, or Light Detection and Ranging, a technique for determining ranges and surface areas through the use of 3D laser scanning. This is essential to make sure that users can experience each virtual and augmented reality environments when wearing the headset.
The XR-4 also supports built-in 3D spatial audio and has noise-canceling mics and integrated speakers. It has inside-out tracking and Varjo’s own controllers which permit a user to navigate the digital and physical environments.
Earlier this 12 months, U.S. tech giants Apple and Meta announced mixed-reality headsets. Meta launched the Quest 3 in June. Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headset is anticipated to launch next 12 months.
Varjo has raised a complete of greater than $160 million of funding from investors including Apple supplier Foxconn, private equity firm EQT, autos giant Volvo and enterprise capital firm Atomico. The corporate didn’t disclose its valuation on the time of its last round when it raised $40 million from investors.
