Thank you for submitting so many questions to our AMA on OpenMR, with this time, Robin Weng answering the questions.
Previous AMAs:
Is Pimax planning to release VR glasses that implement mixed reality? It seems like the next natural step to be able to see the HOTAS controls or buttons once you’re inside the cockpit of a car or plane. It would greatly enhance immersion.
Right now we're fully focussed on getting both the Dream Air and Dream Air SE produced and to market, and also launching Pimax Play 2.0. We do internally have MR technology in the works, for the faceplate covers of the Crystal Series. We had already wish to release these products, but since the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro we've increased the specs of this MR Cover. Right now though we do not have an exact timeframe of this release.
Are you confident in the long term future of the consumer VR market and Pimax’s place in it, especially with regards to PCVR and games / sims?
For sure. We've been in VR and we've seen many companies come and go, and also now seeing them return or enter again. Companies like Apple, Samsung and Google now make headsets, and it's a verification of the importance of VR. We also see that many more games and sims are adding VR and keep optimising this. I cannot even begin to list all titles that support VR because it's an incredibly long list, but we also see that even after these sims support VR, they keep improving it. Last year, for instance, both iRacing and Microsoft Flight Simulator added Foveated Rendering with Quad Views, showing the importance of VR to their userbase. We actually see that games less and less are divided into "VR games" and "non-VR games" but that VR is just one of the ways to experience it. For games that don't add it officially, there are options like Flat2VR and Luke Ross.
Do you see AI having a role to play in future VR or Pimax products, and if so, how do you think it would be implemented?
We launched this on April's Fools Day with Pi-Bro! But more seriously, yes. AI will almost certainly play a significant role in future VR products, and Pimax is already laying the groundwork for it. The most immediate application is AI-driven upscaling — given that Pimax headsets like the Dream Air pack an enormous 27 million pixels. We can help GPUs to render this at full resolution, so neural upscaling (similar to NVIDIA DLSS) becomes a real benefit. Eye tracking, already present in the Crystal Super and Dream Air, opens the door to AI-powered foveated rendering that predicts where your gaze is moving before it arrives there, boosting both performance and image quality simultaneously. Further down the road, AI enables genuinely dynamic VR environments — NPCs that hold real conversations, adaptive comfort systems that adjust IPD or refresh rate based on detected eye strain, and natural voice-based interaction that replaces menu navigation. On a sidenote, we're also convinced AI can help drive down costs by automaticing processes internally.
Are you happy with the response to the Crystal and Dream Air headsets, and what does this mean for Pimax’s future products?
We're extremely happy with these two product lines, which we think co-exist together. We want to offer options for all use cases in the PCVR market, options that all provide the Pimax wow-factor. The Crystal line-up offers the most powerful and modular experience, while the Dream Air lineup brings this in a small-form factor. And by having multi-SKUs, we also can share development costs among products, and better balance the production resources of factories and suppliers.
Do vision and organisational changes within other major XR manufacturers such as Meta have an impact on Pimax’s future plans, and how so?
Not really. Our core strength is high-end PCVR, to really push technological boundaries, with great optics and high resolution panels. We feel we can do this whole sequence of components well, including the bridge chips and image processing, together with Pimax Play. Any time we strayed from our core strength and tried to somewhat make products that more mimmick what competitors make, those have not been the most succesful products at Pimax. For right now, we feel the Crystal and Dream Air series are really true Pimax products, and they're extremely stable, competitively priced, with great performance.
Let's combine three questions:
1) There continues to be long running concerns about Pimax communications, particularly in regards to timelines, quality control, and delivery updates. Do you feel there has been a measurable improvement recently and what improvements do you plan for the future?
2) Why does every headset need to be pre-ordered and then a massively long wait to have the product arrive? Shouldn’t the be ready for sale first and then sold (like 99.9% of the consumer business world does)?
3) Why can you not produce batches of headsets first and then sell those immediately - without the need to pre-order? You have been in business long enough to have the financial clout to be able to do this.
First, I also really regret we didn't meet the earlier announced shipping estimates. For the Dream Air, this is partly because we've significanly improved the headset design, such as making the Lighthouse & SLAM versions different headsets rather than modular, saving on weight. We also vastly improved the lenses, and upgraded the panel supplier to Sony. We think these changes are worth it, not just the slight increase in price but also the weight. But then there are still some delays due to a number of reasons. At CES we discovered the audio stems dislodge too easily, meaning we had to re-do this. We also ran into some slight component delays that halted productions.
Then to get to the other part of these questions. We do like to announce and show our upcoming products early. This way we can already start to get an insight of user demand, as well as feedback from users. Very early on in the R&D process we share prototypes in roadshows or with users and tech reviewers. This allows us to still make changes based on user feedback. We're really co-developing these headsets together with our users. And maybe a final reason is that we're just extremely excited and can't wait to show our latest tech!
That said, going forward, we will either be extremely cautious with shipping estimates, or when announcing a new product, we'll refrain from announcing any shipping dates.
Where’s our specific shipping dates for the Dream Air? Not a vague statement or translucent bars on a chart. Pimax took $3k from me and nothing to show so far.
As mentioned in the earlier progress update, production is ramping up. Our team will contact users once their orders enter production to confirm the shipping address and delivery timeline.
Why do you keep using SMAS headphones on your headsets? Nobody wants those and it makes you look like you are doing it on purpose. Just put the DMAS headphones on them - they will not be that much extra in cost and you will not get the negative feedback from not doing it.
Many users are fine with SMAS headphones but they may not voice this opinion online. SMAS headphones are significantly lighter than DMAS headphones, which is another benefit. For the people who want more powerful audio, there's DMAS available.
Why do you sell a top-of-the-line headset and then immediately offer a better product a week or two later?
This is a bit of a loaded question! The Crystal Light, the Crystal Super, regardless of it being QLED or micro-OLED, and the Dream Air and Dream Air SE — all these headsets we'll keep producing. We think each serves a different use-case and each headset has its own pros and cons.
If with this question you mean the Dream Air, this was already announced in the December 2024 announcement that it would use the optical stack of the Crystal Super. The great news for Crystal Super users is that they don't need to purchase a completely new headset, but they can use the modular optical engine to swap this to get the Dream Air experience.
Again two questions:
1)When does Pimax expect to launch a true microLED headset - actual microLED, not microOLED?
2) Companies like JBD, PlayNitride and others have been showing microLED XR panels for years, with millions of nits and no burn-in. What is the real timeline?
This is hard to say. Currently we are not planning this, and QLED and micro-OLED are the two panel technologies most suitable for VR headsets, both in performance, price, availability and compatability.
When will proper native SteamVR support be available for Dream Air and future Pimax headsets?
This is in the works, yes.
SBoys3’s driver side is reportedly largely ready and waiting on Pimax’s DRM/activation path. Will Pimax enable a real, unlocked path that developers like SBoys3 can support cleanly, or only a restricted first-party solution?
We're discussing this! It's not a simple or straightforward yes/no answer, but we hope we can make it work.
Two questions merged:
1) Will fully paid Pimax headsets ever get a permanent unlock path that is not dependent on ongoing DRM or Pimax Play authentication?
2) Once a headset is fully paid for, will owners be able to run the hardware they own with the driver/runtime of their choice?
Pimax Play is much more than a DRM layer, it unlocks all the features of the headset. For example, a barebone native SteamVR driver would not be able to use the Tobii license for eye-tracking or SLAM tracking.
We also think there are genuine benefits for users to keep authentication active. For example, we can do hotswapping of headsets when a repair or RMA is needed, and we can do so without a deposit, because of the DRM feature. Most importantly, the DRM feature allows us to offer our trial-then-buy model in the first place, which lowers the barrier to entry, and allows everyone to experience VR before committing to a headset.
Two questions:
1) As Pimax grows, will it stay open to community-driven innovation, or become more closed and protectionist?
2) Many enthusiasts backed Pimax precisely because it felt more open than most VR companies. Will that openness continue?
We want to stay true to our roots and always be in touch with the community. Because while we're experts of developing and manufacturing VR headsets; our users are the experts in actually using them.
That said, there are still plenty of improvements we are making to our service and other parts of the company. This is an always-ongoing process, and there are plenty of rough edges we can finetune. Designing and manufacturing VR headsets and providing the service that comes with them involves hundreds of people, dozens of suppliers, dozens of logistic partners and financial institutions. There are a lot of moving parts.
Two questions:
1) As the CEO who started Pimax off kickstarter way back, which product launch in the company’s history are you the most proud of and why?
2) Which product launch, having been in the business for so long now, was the most important learning experience for the company?
Probably the Kickstarter where we got a World Guinness Record for raising approximately $4.2 million for the Pimax 8K. That really solidified our company and gave us the approval of a huge audience, and paved the way forward. We've grown so much ever since that Kickstarter project, but that was really the big start of Pimax. That's also the one we learned the most from. Of course we are learning still, but the 8K was the first huge batch of products and suddenly we had to figure out how to do everything from production to packaging to shipping and large scale customer service.
Two questions about the 12K:
1) Does the 12K still have relevance in its current design or does it require a change to reflect market preferences?
2) 12k… 12k… The eternal unicorn announced around 4 and a half years ago… The VR landscape has shifted tremendously since then, as has Pimax itself and their priorities. Some industry bottlenecks have been cited before(I.e no DP2.1 chips widely available for VR headsets), but are these bottlenecks still the main holdup on the 12k or is it going to be redesigned with the current landscape and Pimax’s priorities in mind, meaning it’s likely quite far out? Are those same industry bottlenecks still even a problem? I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m holding Pimax to the same standard as that’s unfair, but Meta’s shown off fully functional and ultra wide FoV prototypes at public shows which get field of view in the ballpark of the 12k’s advertising, in quite a small form factor too, all things considered.
It's difficult to go into details on Meta's prototype. From their design philosophy or let's say approach to VR headsets, their CTO has mentioned that wide field of view in consumer VR headsets do not make sense and have too many downsides, such as price, weight, battery life. This is probably mainly considering standalone capabilities. But I will also say that developing one prototype is very different from producing that same product on a large scale for a feasible price. (Although of course, if anyone could do it, it's Meta.)
For us, when the 12K comes out, this is probably going to be PCVR only rather than the previously announced dual mode. We are still developing the 12K but we're doing so with an open mind. The goal is unchanged, 12K resolution (6K per eye) with an ultra-wide field of view, unseen since the 8KX days. We feel there's a definete market for this and also plenty of games and GPUs are able to support this, especially because dynamic foveated rendering with eyetracking would become even more powerful on a large field of view (because you can make a larger area rendered in a lower resolution).
As mentioned before, we right now have the Crystal and Dream Air Series, and definetly think the 12K can be a parallal series of SKUs next to this, with its own pros and cons to appeal to users who want this type of VR experience.
Hi, my question is: do Pimax engineers and engineering managers read subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/? (I do not mean social media managers)
Yes, especially the software developers, they review not only the subreddit but also other communities for bug reports and feature requests.
Valve is discontinuing production of Lighthouse hardware and their Valve Index controllers. Does Pimax plan to manufacture them in the future?
We currently do not have these plans. All our headsets have a Lighthouse and SLAM version so we do offer consumers the choice, and we also feel that with SLAM technology we're well prepared for the future.
