LG has introduced that it’s bringing its OLED TV experience to the XR (prolonged actuality) area, and plans to launch some type of system subsequent yr.

The report comes through South Korean information outlet The Guru (translated to English) through which LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan instructed a reporter at CES 2024 that “[LG] will launch an XR system as early as subsequent yr.”

Not a lot else is thought concerning the system; nonetheless, there have been rumors late final yr (through ET Information, additionally translated from Korean) that LG was engaged on a VR headset, which might be powered by the then-unannounced Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 from Qualcomm. The identical rumor accurately predicted that the Samsung XR/VR headset would use this new chipset, so whereas we must always nonetheless take this newest leak with a pinch of salt there seems to be an honest likelihood that it is correct.

If the LG headset does certainly boast a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen then we must always count on it to be a high-end XR headset that’ll rival the likes of the soon-to-release Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. This is able to additionally imply the headset is more likely to be expensive – we would count on someplace within the area of $2,000 / £2,000 / AU$3,000.

As famous by an Add VR report on the LG XR system announcement, the Korean language doesn’t at all times differentiate between singular and plural. As such, it’s attainable that LG needs to launch a couple of XR system in 2025 – and if that’s the case we’d count on to see a high-end Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional rival, and a extra reasonably priced choice that competes with the Meta Quest Three or the just lately introduced Xreal Air 2 Extremely. 

Is LG working alone? 

Alongside Qualcomm, LG may be working with one other XR veteran to convey its headset to life – Meta, although stories counsel it will be LG serving to Meta not the opposite manner round.

In February 2023 we reported that Meta was seeking to companion with LG to create OLED shows for its XR headsets – almost definitely the Meta Quest Professional 2, however presumably the Meta Quest four as properly.

If a Quest Professional 2 is on the best way we’ve hypothesized that 2025 is almost definitely the earliest we’d see one; Meta likes to tease new XR {hardware} a yr prematurely, and usually makes bulletins at its Meta Join occasion that occurs in September / October, so we’d probably get a 2024 teaser and a 2025 launch.

This schedule suits with LG’s plan to launch a tool subsequent yr, suggesting that the following Meta headset and the LG headset are one and the identical.

That mentioned, there’s an opportunity that LG is engaged on an XR venture with out Meta.

A couple of months after the February leak, in July 2023, there have been stories that Meta had cancelled the Quest Professional 2. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth took to Instagram Tales to disclaim the rumor, although his argument was primarily based on a technicality – saying a canceled prototype isn’t the Quest Professional 2 till Meta names it the Quest Professional 2.

This complicated clarification leaves the door open to the Quest Professional 2 being delayed – probably because of the authentic’s seemingly very lackluster gross sales (we estimate the Quest Professional is round 86 instances much less widespread than the Quest 2 utilizing Steam {Hardware} Survey knowledge), and the arrival of the Imaginative and prescient Professional. 

If LG is sitting on a superb OLED show design – whereas Meta is again on the drafting board stage – why wouldn’t the South Korean show firm leverage this display, and its house leisure experience, to create a killer headset of its personal?

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