The End of Headset VR?

VR has come a long way, but adoption lags, and many users are uneasy about strapping a bulky headset to their face for extended sessions. Meanwhile, AR and mixed-reality hardware is beginning to inch toward the lightweight, socially acceptable, “glasses you can wear all day” ideal.

The signs suggest immersive tech is on the cusp of a transformation. One that moves far beyond the hot black-box strapped to your face.

Meta’s recent move to stimulate its VR ecosystem illustrates the challenge. In late 2025 it launched the Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition 2025, offering a $1.5 million prize pool for creators building experiences on Horizon OS and Quest platforms. A clear attempt to kick-start content creation and jump-start a sluggish app ecosystem.

Such a competition is, in one interpretation, evidence of a struggling platform. One that needs external incentives because, despite eye-watering investment, organic uptake hasn’t delivered enough developer momentum.

If immersive tech were already mainstream, such aggressive measures might not be necessary. Noteworthy evidence of the challenge of creating a new market from scratch.

At the same time, there is growing public evidence and media speculation that the next generation of hardware will look very different. Leaks and analysis suggest Meta is working on a new XR headset, codenamed “Loma” or “Puffin”, that trades heavy, all-in-one headsets for a much lighter glasses-style display tethered to a small compute and battery pack (a “puck”) worn separately.

These reports align with a broader industry trend: smart glasses (including those from Meta and other companies) are being pitched not as niche gadgets, but as the next mainstream computing platform. Lightweight, wearable, always on.

For example, the newest variants of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have drawn attention for integrating displays or AI features that go beyond mere notification devices.

It’s not hard to imagine where this is heading: a single wearable device that acts as both AR overlay and VR gateway, which you might slip on as easily as a pair of sunglasses. Gone the days of clunky straps, heavy plastics pressing on your face, and that works all day without discomfort.

But hardware is only one part of the equation: interaction and user comfort matter just as much. Eye-tracking, hand-tracking, gesture controls, and advanced AI-powered environments promise more natural, intuitive experiences. Add to that haptic feedback, spatial audio, and responsive digital environments. The immersive worlds of the future could feel far more alive than today’s headset-based ones.

Meanwhile, while XR hardware evolves, mobile phones and desktops remain crucial.

For most people, these are the default platforms for browsing, socialising, working, even some 3D or “metaverse-style” experiences. They give developers reach and scale today (something that new wearable hardware cannot guarantee at first). Even if smart glasses become mainstream, their success will likely depend on a large base of people who first interact with immersive content through laptops or phones.

This transitional period, where mobile/desktop anchors the user base even as wearables emerge, may be vital. It allows ecosystems to mature: content libraries to grow, developers to experiment, standards to settle, and social norms around XR usage to form.

If this shift continues, the biggest impact may come not from gaming or novelty apps, but from how we work, learn and connect. Imagine collaborating with colleagues around a 3D model in a virtual workspace that feels spatial and natural; students walking through immersive historical reconstructions; friends meeting in shared mixed-reality lounges; or attending concerts, conferences, or events. All without leaving home.

Yet the path is still uncertain. We don’t know how quickly hardware will evolve, whether comfort and battery issues will be fully solved, or if privacy and social-acceptance challenges can be addressed. And we don’t know what “killer application” will tip XR from niche to ubiquitous. And then there is the price point…

Nevertheless, the shift away from bulky headsets toward lightweight, wearable XR, combined with a robust bridge in mobile and desktop, seems increasingly inevitable.

VR in its current bulky form may indeed have numbered days.

However, immersive technology as a whole, reimagined, refined, and re-worn, may be just getting started.