Are upgradable, modular VR headsets the future?
MIXED reader Julian Bindernagel asked us if there's a feature for modular VR headsets that can be upgraded. Here is our answer.
Every Monday, we answer a question from our readers. Send your question to tomislav@mixed.de with "Question" in the subject line, and with any luck, we'll answer it the following Monday.
This week's question comes from Julian Bindernagel:
Will future VR headsets be modular and upgradeable (lenses, display), or will it be like smartphones?
Hello Julian,
I can't rule it out for the very, very distant future, but I think it's very unlikely that modular, upgradeable VR headsets will become mainstream in the next few years, or even the next decade. At least in the sense that integral components (chipset, displays, or lenses) can be replaced and upgraded by consumers without a lot of technical knowledge.
Modular VR headsets are already available in the form of the Somnium VR1 PC VR headset (see article image), where you can choose between modules for hand tracking, eye tracking, and passthrough. However, these devices are intended for enthusiasts and hobbyists and cost between 1,900 and 3,900 Euros. As far as I know, there is no technical upgradeability in the above sense.
I don't believe in the short or medium term future of modular, expandable VR headsets because these are usually highly optimized systems, designed so that every single element works perfectly together. This is especially true for standalone devices.
Much like smartphones, manufacturers of standalone VR headsets face strict limits on power consumption, heat dissipation, and processing power. At the same time, the devices must be as compact and lightweight as possible. Modularity is difficult to reconcile with these constraints.
What's more, VR technology is still far from being standardized and is evolving at a rapid pace. If you look at existing devices, you will see that they can have very different hardware features (passthrough, eye tracking, etc.) and specifications that are considered high-end today will be obsolete tomorrow. Keeping up with rapidly evolving technology and accommodating it with modular systems will remain an impossibility for the foreseeable future.
I could imagine that in the distant future, when the standard hardware features of a VR headset are established and the devices act as general-purpose computers and thus become more widespread, modularity will play a greater role.
Kind regards,
Tomislav
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