What Is Inside a VR Headset? Displays, Lenses, Cameras, Chips
A component-level look inside a VR headset: LCD and micro-OLED panels, pancake lenses, tracking cameras, IMUs, chips, and where the battery goes.
Guides
Evergreen explainers and how-tos on the fundamentals of XR, VR, and real-time graphics. Written to stay useful, and updated as the tech evolves.
What Is OpenXR? The Cross-Platform XR API Explained
OpenXR is Khronos's open API between XR apps and headset runtimes. How the loader, extensions and action system work, and what the standard still leaves out.
What Is Inside-Out Tracking in VR?
Inside-out tracking lets a VR headset find its own position and its controllers with onboard cameras and motion sensors, no base stations. How SLAM works.
What Is Android XR? Google's XR Platform Explained
Android XR is Google's platform for XR headsets and smart glasses, built with Samsung and Qualcomm. Here is what runs on it, who ships it, and how to build for it.
WebGPU vs WebGL: Which Web Graphics API Should You Use?
WebGPU and WebGL both run GPU code in the browser, but only WebGPU has compute shaders. Here is how they differ, and what it means for WebXR.
How VR Eye Tracking Works
VR eye tracking fires infrared light at your eyes, reads the pupil and the corneal reflection, and turns that into a gaze vector. Here is the full pipeline.
How Passthrough Works in VR Headsets
Passthrough is the live camera view of the real world inside a headset. Here is the pipeline from sensor to display, and why depth and latency are hard.
Quest 3 vs Steam Frame: Specs, Streaming, and Which to Buy
Quest 3 and Valve's Steam Frame are both standalone headsets built for different players. How their specs, streaming, passthrough and prices compare.