MaganeX: VR glasses with 5.2K HDR micro OLED pancake lenses

It looks 2022 might be the start of a VR hardware innovation race. Today at CES, Shiftall, a subsidiary of Panasonic, introduced the MaganeX VR glasses, a compact VR device with micro OLED displays and all-plastic pancake optics. If this is where VR tech is going, we're in for some exciting new gadgets.

The Shiftall MaganeX features dual 2560 x 2560 micro OLED HDR displays from Kopin Corporation. These 1.3" displays are built directly on the chip (display on chip - DoC), which helps keep the form factor and weight to a minimum. The MaganeX headset also features all-plastic pancake optics from Kopin, which further reduces the device's size requirements and weight compared to most existing VR headsets.

"It is necessary for VR glasses to be lightweight and comfortable to wear as well as deliver life-like images in order to be widely accepted to consumers,"said Takuma Iwasa, CEO of Shiftall. "Kopin's unique 2.6K x 2.6K OLED display and all-plastic Pancake optics are the key to achieving these objectives. We are very pleased with our close partnership with Kopin for the development of our VR glasses."

Kopin's micro OLED displays support frame rates up to 120 Hz. They also offer 10 bits of color, high color fidelity enabling greater than 100% sRGB color, and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

The Shiftall MaganeX VR glasses have IPD and independent diopter adjustment to help dial the lenses in just right.

Panasonic and Shiftall did not say if or when the MaganeX headset would hit the market and did not discuss the expected price. Shiftall is giving demos of a prototype MeganeX headset on the CES floor, though, so development is relatively far along.