Sharp to show super-sharp VR headset at CES 2023
Sharp manufactures displays for VR headset such as Quest 2. The company will present an HMD prototype for the first time at CES 2023.
The world's largest electronics trade show will be held in Las Vegas from January 5 to 8. Sharp will have a booth and showcase new technologies, prototypes and products from four fields of operation: New Energy, Cars, TVs and VR/AR.
In the latter field, the innovations are as follows:
- Prototype of a head-mounted display (HMD) for virtual reality that is supposed to be "ultra-light" and has a high-resolution display, a high-speed camera module (possibly for higher-quality passthrough) and a compact proximity sensor built in.
- An ultra-compact camera module that can be used for applications like eye tracking.
- A compact ToF sensor that can be built into a VR headset or VR controller to measure distances and avoid collisions with people and objects.
Sharp is a major VR supplier
An AR glasses prototype could also be on display: The Japanese electronics company is one of several OEM partners experimenting with Qualcomm's new AR reference design and its new AR chip.
Meanwhile, it is unlikely that Sharp will soon become a manufacturer of VR headsets. With the HMD prototype, the Foxconn subsidiary presumably wants to show new components that are specifically designed for virtual reality interaction and to make them palatable to VR manufacturers.
Sharp has become an important display supplier to the VR industry in recent years. According to a report in Japan's Nikkei Asia business magazine, Sharp was producing over one million VR displays per month by the end of 2021 and is Meta's largest display supplier. Sharp is likely looking to expand its VR business by manufacturing specialized cameras and sensors.
CES 2023: Preview of VR and AR trends
Every year at CES, new VR prototypes are unveiled and technological trends are set for the coming year and beyond.
After Qualcomm's next VR chip, the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, was not unveiled at the Snapdragon Summit in mid-November, the SoC designed for standalone VR headsets could be officially unveiled at CES in January. According to benchmarks, the chip would bring a big performance leap compared to the current generation installed in headsets like Meta Quest 2, Pico 4, and Vive Focus 3.
We can definitely expect a presentation of HTC's new slim VR headset, which the company hinted at in the fall and which hardware analyst Brad Lynch claims to have leaked already. HTC has used the CES stage for many years to present new VR products.
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