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The XR Week Peek (2025.04.15): Tariffs may be lifted on XR headsets, Vision Pro 2 may be in production, and more!
This week, we had quite a lot of interesting news about all the major players: Apple, Meta, Google, and Valve. There is a lot to unpack, so make sure to read this roundup of news till the end… where there will also be a giveaway of keys for a cool mixed reality game! (And feel free […] The post The XR Week Peek (2025.04.15): Tariffs may be lifted on XR headsets, Vision Pro 2 may be in production, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
This week, we had quite a lot of interesting news about all the major players: Apple, Meta, Google, and Valve. There is a lot to unpack, so make sure to read this roundup of news till the end… where there will also be a giveaway of keys for a cool mixed reality game!
(And feel free to also read my latest article that talks about the XR ecosystem in China and my upcoming trip to Shanghai!)
Top news of the week
Headsets may not be affected by the US tariffs
The situation regarding the US tariffs continues to appear confusing, with changes happening every few days. So it is still unclear how they will affect XR headsets, and I guess most of the companies are waiting for the situation to stabilize before taking actions.
A few companies have already issued statements regarding that, though: both Pimax and BigScreen have announced that they will work to absorb the impact of the tariffs and not add an additional burden to the users. BigScreen should completely absorb the impact of tariffs, while Pimax would do that partially, just adding a $75–95 regional surcharge on the Pimax Super for purchasers located in the US. It’s good news that companies are trying to not add an additional price burden on their customers: as I’ve said last week, the XR market is very sensitive to price, and the more prices can be kept low, the more headsets are sold (and so more people we have in our space).
But even better news is that probably the tariffs on XR headsets have been fully lifted. At the end of last week, the US administration exempted most electronic devices from the tariffs, most probably because with 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, Apple, which manufactures most of its iPhones in China, would have gone bust. According to Upload VR, which has spoken with people knowledgeable on the matter, XR headsets are on the exemption list. This is fantastic, because it means that also headsets like the Quest won’t have to have their prices raised.
Anyway, we can’t celebrate yet: first of all, we should be completely sure that XR headsets are exempted from tariffs. And then, the US administration is working on other types of tariffs on electronic chips, and these may cause issues in our field, too.
More info (Pimax absorbing the impact of tariffs)
More info (BigScreen absorbing the impact of tariffs)
More info (Tariffs have been lifted on electronic devices)
More info (Tariffs may have been lifted on XR headsets)
Other relevant news
Apple Vision Pro 2 may already be in production, but the real deal is AR glasses
One of the things that I liked the most about the launch of the Apple Vision Pro is that it ended all those absurd rumors about the Apple headset that had been circulating for years before that. But now, with the Vision Pro becoming a bit old, we have the rumors about the Apple Vision Pro 2. And they are also many and varied, with every “analyst” having his own theory that changes every couple of weeks.
We have two random rumors from this week. The first one comes from a Chinese magazine that claims that the Apple Vision Pro 2 is already in production. In particular, “panels, shells and other key components” of the headset are already in mass production, with the magazine even mentioning the companies that are working on them.
Mark Gurman, instead, issued a report on Bloomberg claiming that Apple is not working on one, but on two headsets. The first is a refresh of the Vision Pro, which should not only feature a more powerful chip (probably the upcoming M5), but also be cheaper and lighter. The other headset is a tethered headset to be connected to the Mac to provide a large virtual screen. This should be cheaper and significantly lighter than the standalone Vision Pro 2. Anyway, with the Vision Pro already being able to connect to the Mac, I don’t see the point of this headset, unless it is dramatically cheaper than the Vision Pro.
Personally, instead of all these rumors about the Vision Pro 2, I found another thing that Gurman reported in his newsletter more interesting. He claims that Apple CEO Tim Cook is working hard to release AR glasses before Meta. Everyone is conscious that this will take years to happen, but it seems the AR races have started. Gurman says that “Tim cares about nothing else” and claims that AR glasses are “the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.” If this is true, this is amazing news for the whole ecosystem.
More info (Apple Vision Pro 2 may already be in production)
More info (Apple Working on two headsets — Upload VR)
More info (Apple working on two headsets — The Verge)
Valve may be building key components for Deckard
According to the usual Brad Lynch, Valve has been recently importing “equipment to manufacture VR headset facial interfaces inside the USA”. According to him, “the equipment is being provided by Teleray Group who [sic] also manufactured the gaskets for the Valve Index and HP G2 Omnicept”.
Considering that there are no other Valve-related headsets for which it is worth starting any manufacturing of facial interfaces (e.g. the Index is too old), the only plausible explanation is that this equipment is meant to manufacture facial interfaces for the upcoming Valve Deckard headset. This suggests that the headset is moving to the production stage, meaning that it could be released relatively soon.
Considering the intensification of rumors about this headset, it is very probable that it will be launched (or at least announced) this year.
(Anyway, if you want to check if Deckard has been launched, there is now a website that helps you with that… have a look at the link here below :P)
More info (Valve to manufacture facial interfaces)
More info (A website that tells you if Deckard is out)
Google and Samsung may launch glasses in 2026
Google and Samsung are working together on a few devices powered by Android XR. One of them is the mixed reality headset codenamed Project Moohan, which, according to rumors, should launch later this year.
Another device they are working on together is XR glasses. A previous report stated that the glasses should have launched this year, as well. But according to a report from The Korea Economic Daily, Samsung and Google ditched the previous plans and now they are not working anymore on a clone of the Ray-Ban Meta, but directly on glasses featuring a display and cameras, coupled with some AI elements baked in. Considering the upgrade of features, the glasses are not expected for this year anymore, but for 2026.
I think this decision may make a lot of sense: Meta is allegedly going to release glasses with a display at the end of this year, so launching something with fewer features may not have made much sense for Google.
We don’t know how these glasses will turn out to be, but Google has returned to teasing them by showing an internal prototype at a TED talk. The features are the same that have been shown in the past: Gemini can see what the user is seeing and provide support and translation.
More info (Google and Samsung may launch their glasses in 2026)
More info (Google showing glasses prototypes at TED)
AltspaceVR is being rebooted
The surprise news of the week has been the reboot of AltspaceVR. I was randomly browsing Reddit when I stumbled upon a long post from a person claiming that he was rebooting Altspace.
This person is called Danny Mac (the actual full name is Danny McLellan) and he has acquired the name and the logo of Altspace and is now fully rebooting the development of the platform, starting it from scratch using an open-source framework called Basis VR. He claims he wants to bring back the good vibes of AltspaceVR, a social VR space that was appreciated for its welcoming community. He also wants to give tools to creators to thrive on the platform.
The project is in early stages, and details are shallow. For sure, it’s an amazing piece of news that someone wants to bring back AltspaceVR, because we all have good memories from that social VR application. At the same time, there are many questions we all have on this new project, starting to get to know the team and how much funding it has.
I’ll try to get some answers, and if I obtain them, I’ll keep you updated on this blog about it (remember to register for my newsletter in case you haven’t done it yet, so you can get an eventual article about it straight in your inbox!).
More info (Reddit post about Altspace rebooting)
More info (The website of AltspaceVR)
News worth a mention
Meta to bring VR in-flight entertainment to various airlines
Last year, Meta started a pilot program together with Lufthansa to bring VR entertainment on selected flights to people in the Business Class Suite. Passengers could watch movies and TV, spatial videos, and select 360-degree videos, do guided meditation, and play games like Connect Four and chess.
Apparently, the program has been a success, with 4000 customers served and with Lufthansa, Meta, and developer MSM.Digital winning the 2025 Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) Award for Best Inflight Entertainment.
Because of this, Meta plans to expand this program to other airlines. This means we can expect VR entertainment to become increasingly popular on flights, which is good for the ecosystem as a whole, because people trying a VR headset on a flight may be tempted to buy one to play at home.
More info (Meta wanting to bring VR entertainment to various airlines)
More info (Meta and Lufthansa winning an award)
Varjo won’t probably come back to the consumer market
Finnish manufacturer Varjo is finding good business in enterprise use cases like training sims, especially in military and aeronautics. Speaking with Road To VR, the Chief Product Officer clearly said that at this moment, the company is so focused on its success in B2B, that a successor to Varjo seems highly improbable. “No one is gonna say ‘never’ but we’re going more and more in the other direction.” have been his exact words.
Pico to release a tracker for the waist
ByteDance is now selling Pico Motion Tracker Waist Version: a single tracker with a longer strap so you can attach it to your waist, priced at €50/£40. Pico claims that using this additional tracker increases the accuracy of full body tracking compared to the traditional setup where you just put trackers on your ankles.
Discover all the ways to type text in XR
A group of researchers from various universities partnered to create the XR TEXT Trove, a repository cataloging over 170 text entry techniques tailored for XR. This is a great initiative that will help many researchers and many UX designers working on usability in XR.
You can not uninstall Horizon Worlds anymore
Recently, many people complained about the exaggerated attention that Meta put on Horizon Worlds, and there have been a lot of complaints about Meta Quest recommending Horizon Worlds content instead of premium apps on the store as soon as you turn on your Quest. Some people even proceeded to uninstall Horizon Worlds to see these recommendations of shovelware worlds go away.
Meta, instead of listening to these complains, it has just proceeded to remove the possibilities of uninstalling Horizon Worlds, so that we all are forced to see its crappy reccommendations.
Even better, in the same update, v76, Meta says it’s also rolling out a unique device identifier that advertisers can use to “show you more relevant ads on Meta Horizon OS”. This is another feature we all wanted. I wonder when the update that puts a lot of ads in front of our eyes but without creating a seizure will come [semi-cit].
A new way of fighting motion sickness
Some researchers have found that stimulating the part of the inner ear associated with balance using a unique sound can potentially improve balance. Using a mouse model and humans, the researchers identified a unique sound at 100 Hz as being the optimal frequency. If these frequencies are sent to the inner ear for a minute, the subject then has reduced motion sickness for a couple of hours. This is intriguing.
Meta Quest 3S is discounted for the Spring Sale
Meta is discounting the Quest 3S on the occasion of the Spring Sale. Until April 26th, you can get the 128GB base model for $270, or the higher storage 256GB model for $370.
As with all Quest 3S purchases, the headset still comes with Batman: Arkham Shadow for free, as well as 3 months of the Quest+ games subscription.
This is amazing news, but I wonder why this headset, which is allegedly a success according to Meta, is already being discounted. Have the sales maybe cooled down after the winter holidays?
Some news about content
- Hit physics sandbox ‘Besiege’ is coming to Quest in May
- Dimensional Double Shift is leaving open beta and getting its first paid DLC, bringing a new Texas-inspired dimension to the game
- “FastHands” brings parkour action with an innovative hands-based locomotion. It is going to be released in May
- ‘GORN 2’ is coming to Quest & PC VR on April 17, PSVR 2 This Summer
- Silent North, the sandbox survival shooter from Combat Waffle, is now available in early access on Quest and PC VR headsets, priced at $20
- FRENZIES is heading out of early access later this year, but it won’t be coming to PSVR 2 as previously planned
- Starvault VR is a new sci-fi fantasy 5v5 FPS MOBA coming to Quest
- Walkabout Mini Golf will raise its price to $25 and merge 6 DLC courses into the base game on May 1
- A terrible Microsoft Flight Simulator ripoff took #1 in Europe’s PlayStation VR2 download charts for March, and #4 in the US. It is an application that starts with the “Made with Unity” logo. LOL
- Stilt, the first-person platformer where you bounce your way through various challenges, is now 90% off on the Meta Horizon Store
- Placid Plastic Duck VR is ducks, ducks, ducks, and even more ducks!
- Civilization VII VR is out now on Quest 3 & 3S for $60. Some players are reporting stuttering issues, though
More info (Besiege)
More info (Dimensional Double Shift)
More info (FastHands)
More info (Gorn 2)
More info (Silent North)
More info (FRENZIES)
More info (Starvault VR)
More info (Walkabout Mini Golf)
More info (Microsoft Flight Simulator ripoff)
More info (Stilt)
More info (Placid Plastic Duck VR)
More info (Civilization VII VR)
Some reviews about content
- Rhythm game Beatable is getting quite positive reviews, with journalists praising its smart idea of using a desk to provide haptics to the hands of the users
- In a preview of The Midnight Walk, we could admire all its innovative graphics. The studio built 700 physical models that have then been translated into characters of the game
- Train Sim World VR balances the realism that the core simulation fans want with simplifications that make the experience more enjoyable in VR for the uninitiated to the genre
- Crystal Commander brings strategy games to mixed reality. It’s kinda of a lightweight game, though
- Aces Of Thunder appears as a very solid WW2 flight simulation game in its preview
- Harpagun is an entertaining VR smasher-shooter with an intriguing narrative that immediately grabs your attention. It has some things that have to be fixed, though
More info (Beatable — Road To VR)
More info (Beatable — Upload VR)
More info (The Midnight Walk)
More info (Train Sim World VR)
More info (Crystal Commanders)
More info (Aces Of Thunder)
More info (Harpagun)
Other news
DaVinci Resolve 20 supports editing Apple Immersive Video
Hyperfy is a world-creation platform with a well-performing WebXR engine
Daniel Eckert has started an interesting series of articles to talk about the problems of enterprise VR
The US Army to start a new AR race after IVAS. It will be called Soldier Borne Mission Command
News from partners (and friends)
Alex And The Jets giveaway!
Alex And The Jets is a very cute game that lets you do cartoonish dogfights inside your living room. The game is in mixed reality, and the planes and the bullets are also aware of your room walls and floor, for a more immersive gameplay.
It’s a nice game (I tried it), and you discover more about it using the links below. You can also eventually buy it to support its MR indie developers.
But if you are one of the fastest to use one of the two codes below (for Quest), you can even get it for free! Have fun!
G7M33-Q4NPJ-KWPXW-G7GHM-GA7Y6
G9YW7-NW9R4-N974K-MEQHQ-TG793
Learn more (Road To VR talks about Alex And The Jets)
Learn more (Alex And The Jets on the Meta Store)
Some XR fun
Do vibe coding they said, it will be fun they said
Funny link
A decent meme created with AI
Funny link
Thanks Meta for having invented MR
Funny link
How to become an AI influencer
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me: :
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Raghu Bathina
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Casie Lane
- Catherine Henry
- Qcreator
- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
- KaihatsuJai
- Christopher Boyd
- Anonymous Supporter
- Giuseppe Pippi
- Mark Frederiksen
- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Pimax)
The post The XR Week Peek (2025.04.15): Tariffs may be lifted on XR headsets, Vision Pro 2 may be in production, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
