Asus is working on augmented reality glasses for 2016

ASUS’ latest earnings webcast brought a few exciting news, as CEO Jerry Shen confirmed plans to enter the augmented reality (AR) market.

Details on the headset, which will come out “next year” according to Asus CEO Jerry Shen, are light. “We think AR will be very important for people’s lives”.

This comes as no big surprise; earlier this year, Jonney Shih – Asus chairman – told TrustedReviews that Asus already had plans to work on augmented reality. It was only a matter of time before more companies joined the list, and Asus has just confirmed that they will be one of them. Microsoft’s own augmented reality glasses, sold as a developer edition, will set early adopters back $3000.

Previous reports revealed that ASUS was working with Microsoft on a few version of HoloLens. Before you get too excited about the prospect of a cheap VR headset, you’ll want to know Asus is taking the Augmented approach for their first headset.

It’s also worth pointing out that augmented reality glasses are notably different from virtual reality (VR) headsets such as the Oculus Rift. While virtual reality (VR) is a fully-immersive experience that puts people in imaginary or real world environments, AR headsets add simulated items to the real world. The idea with augmented reality is that images and object are overlaid in relation to the real-life feed from say a camera on your smartphone and it enhances the reality in front of you. “Internally, we are talking about how to prepare”.

Asus is best known for building laptops, though in recent years has also been pushing out its Zen ranges of smartphones and tablets. Hopefully a firm like ASUS could mass produce the same experience offered by HoloLens at a much reduced price.