XR Weekly: Apple Pushes Vision Pro Successor to 2028 as Meta Teases New Smart Glasses - Week of May 18, 2026

The week of May 11-18, 2026 was defined by a clearer picture of what is, and is not, coming next from the biggest names in spatial computing. Bloomberg poured cold water on Apple Vision Pro successor hopes, Mark Zuckerberg teased a new pair of smart glasses ahead of Meta Connect in September, and Niantic Spatial quietly shipped foundational infrastructure for the Gaussian splat era. With Google I/O kicking off on May 19, the industry spent the week positioning itself for what comes next.

Hardware

Apple's next Vision Pro is at least two years away. In his Power On newsletter on May 11, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman pushed back on rumors that Apple had abandoned the Vision Pro line entirely, but offered a sobering timeline. The company continues to develop new technologies and materials behind the scenes with the goal of eventually producing a cheaper, lighter enclosed headset, but no such product is in active development, the long-rumored "Vision Air" was canceled last year, and a new Vision Pro-style device wouldn't be expected for "around two more years at least," given that the bulk of Apple's mixed-reality hardware talent has been pulled onto other projects like lightweight smart glasses. Read more at MacRumors.

Apple releases visionOS 26.5. Also on May 11, Apple shipped a maintenance update for current Vision Pro owners. visionOS 26.5 is the fifth update to the visionOS 26 operating system that launched in September, and it comes close to two months after Apple released visionOS 26.4. The release notes say it includes bug fixes and security improvements, and the update is recommended for all Vision Pro users. Details at MacRumors.

Meta teases new smart glasses ahead of Connect 2026. Mark Zuckerberg used Instagram this week to formally announce Meta Connect, which will return on September 23-24, and dropped a not-so-subtle hint about what's coming. Alongside the date announcement, Zuckerberg shared a photo on Facebook appearing to tease a new pair of smart glasses, with the design obscured by blue markings, while Meta's current smart glasses lineup includes an audio-only model and a pair equipped with a monocular display. The post also referenced "demos, special guests, AI updates, and better wifi," with a fifth item left intentionally blurred. Road to VR noted that all eyes will be on Connect this year as the industry watches to gauge Meta's strategy.

Software & Apps

Niantic Spatial open-sources SPZ 4 for Gaussian splats. On May 11, the spatial computing spinoff released a major update to its file format for 3D Gaussian splats. SPZ 4 is positioned as foundational infrastructure for scalable XR, robotics, web, and creative 3D workflows, delivering approximately 3 to 5x faster compression and roughly 1.5 to 2x faster end-to-end loading, while maintaining files around 10x smaller than uncompressed PLY formats. A major architectural change replaces the earlier single-stream GZip system with six parallel ZSTD streams, and SPZ 4 removes the previous 10-million-point cap, allowing scenes with tens of millions of splat points. More at Auganix.

iRacing launches on Apple Vision Pro. Sim racers got a new reason to fire up the Vision Pro this week. iRacing announced the iRacing Connect app for Apple Vision Pro is now available on the App Store, using foveated streaming to render the sharpest content in the driver's direct line of sight, and seamlessly blending a physical racing rig with the virtual cockpit so racers see their physical hands on the wheel. Full announcement at iRacing.

visionOS 27 preview leaks ahead of WWDC. Per a Bloomberg report surfaced on May 11, this year's visionOS 27 update will be light on new features compared with visionOS 26 and instead focus on performance, bug fixes and parity with the other "27" operating systems, meaning the new AI editing tools, Siri features and other enhancements that will be part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27. Read more at 9to5Mac.

Funding & Deals

It was a relatively quiet week for pure-play XR funding, with most of the venture spotlight focused on AI and infrastructure rounds. However, two notable industry moves drew attention:

Agog opens $1M climate XR fund. On May 13, Agog launched its first public open call, offering up to USD $1 million for climate-focused immersive media projects, with the open call expanding access for creators building XR experiences tied to climate storytelling. Coverage at Auganix.

Sony Interactive Entertainment closes Cinemersive Labs acquisition. Auganix reported on the completed deal this week. Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Cinemersive Labs, a UK computer vision and machine learning company, adding an in-house team with patent-pending volumetric capture technology to its visual computing capabilities to support efforts to enhance gameplay visuals, improve rendering, and deliver more immersive gameplay experiences. Prior to the acquisition, Cinemersive Labs was developing technology that converts smartphone photographs into volumetric 3D immersive experiences, with applications available across Meta Quest, Apple Vision Pro, and the web. Details at Auganix.

Enterprise & Industry

Virtuix expands Omni One VR treadmills to Canada. On May 13, Virtuix expanded availability of its Omni One full-body VR treadmill systems to Canada, bringing Virtuix's full-body VR gaming systems to Canadian customers for the first time. Full story at Auganix.

The Vision Pro talent migration becomes the story. Beyond the Vision Pro 2 timeline itself, the most consequential industry signal this week is what Apple is doing with the Vision Products Group. As it became clear that a new and refined headset wouldn't be possible in the near term, Apple began siphoning off its top talent into other, more pressing, divisions. That talent movement, primarily toward smart glasses programs, mirrors moves already underway at Meta and confirms that 2026-2027 will be defined by the glasses form factor rather than enclosed headsets. Analysis at AppleInsider.

Quick Hits

• UploadVR continued daily coverage all week, including coverage of Subnautica 2 launching without VR support on May 14
• Road to VR confirmed Meta Connect 2026 will run September 23-24 in San Francisco
• Mark Zuckerberg's Connect 2026 teaser included a fifth blurred item widely believed to read "performance"
• Niantic Spatial shipped a WebAssembly-based SPZ converter tool that runs entirely in the browser
• Adobe has integrated SPZ centrally into Photoshop's 3D toolchain, including the new Rotate Object feature
• Google I/O 2026 was confirmed to feature hands-on Android XR glasses demos on May 19

Next week's spotlight shifts decisively to Mountain View, where Google I/O on May 19-20 is expected to bring the first public hands-on Android XR glasses demos and concrete developer timelines for the platform that Samsung, Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and Kering will all build on.