I saw the future of AR glasses with a 70-degree field of view — but it’s going to take time to get there

viture prototype — (Image credit: Future)

So as you’ve seen, Viture has announced 4 new pairs of AR glasses — the Luma Pro is available today (July 8), while the Luma, Luma Ultra and the Beast are coming later this year.

But the company’s not just stopping there, as we got to take a look at what the next frontier is in AR spec display tech after this: a 70-degree field of view. And in one glimpse, I saw the future. Let me explain why.

Putting VR headsets on blast

So we all know the end goal of AR glasses — to pack all the computation of a VR headset into something the size of specs. One key thing to tackle is the limited field of view, and while 70 degrees is not quite the 110 degrees you see on the Meta Quest 3S, the amount happening in your peripheral with Luma's technology is crazy.

Of course this was just a demo picture shown on Viture’s prototype, but the wideness starts to show just what benefits this technology could bring. And to tie in another brand here, you have to think about what Xreal could do with its Android XR specs that the company confirmed will come with this same FOV.

You could have a much less intrusive AR UI overlaid on your day-to-day — directions from maps added to the corner like a Grand Theft Auto radar, with requested info also peppered in. But of course, the real winner here is just how big of a display you could fully see in front of you.

You see, it’s great to have the likes of a simulated gigantic screen in front of you, but a 50-degree-ish field of view does take you out of the immersion of it. Leapfrogging to 70 degrees will eliminate a lot of that.

Still a ways off

Viture says a 70-degree FOV model could launch “as early as next year.” So far, we’ve just seen this giant prototype, so we know the challenges here:

Reduce the size: So far, these birdbath prisms are gigantic. We need to reduce them.
Consistency: It can’t just be a big screen without any focus on keeping optical consistency and display quality across the entire field

The resolution also has to match this, and 1440p micro OLED displays are “already finalized” by Viture and ready for 2026. As for true 4K? That will be further ways down the road according to the company.

Xreal is also planning a 2026 launch for Project Aura that is confirmed to have the same field of view. As the two front runners, Viture and Xreal are always set to run in lockstep, so it will be fascinating to see how 70-degrees are done by both companies!

More from Tom's Guide

Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.