Consumer AR glasses could soon become a reality thanks to a breakthrough holographic chip from Swave. Lightweight, low-power, affordable AR glasses have thus far been a distant dream.
The best smart glasses can display massive virtual screens but require a phone or other device for video and power. The buzz around AR glasses has been growing, spurred by an impressive Meta Orion prototype demonstration and the powerful new Snap Spectacles update. However, we’re still waiting for comfortable, affordable glasses that display bright, crisp images over a wide field of view.
Swave’s HXR display
Swave’s holographic extended reality (HXR) display should be lighter and more compact than the birdbath optics used in leading smart glasses, yet it could significantly boost resolution and brightness. The latest smart glasses with heads-up displays (HUDs) use waveguides, which limit the field of view (FoV) and often lack color.
With a densely packed holographic display powered by lasers, Swave’s full-color HXR will provide up to 64 gigapixels of resolution with minimal light loss. Using phase-change technology similar to rewritable DVDs, it’s a low-cost solution with pixels that are 170 times smaller than standard displays, tiny enough to diffract light.
While this holographic display technology is ideal for AR glasses, it can be scaled to fill the windshield of a car for visible navigation cues, similar to BMW’s Panoramic iDrive display shown at CES 2025. Swave is exploring automotive screens and larger, wall-sized volumetric displays for enterprise use.
What’s a holographic display?
You’ve seen holograms before as the rainbow shimmer of a security symbol on a credit card or an eye-catching image that seems to pop off the surface of a card when the light hits just right. Holograms capture a three-dimensional snapshot of an object or scene for later viewing from different angles.
The process is complex and quite technical. In short, precisely arranged lasers reflect off objects to encode interference patterns on a recording medium. When light hits the finished hologram, nanometer-scale variations in these patterns diffract light to decode and reconstruct the 3D image.
Using holographic techniques in technology requires a display that can encode microscopic interference patterns. Ideally, it should be easy to update the pattern to quickly change what’s shown without drawing too much power. Swave’s breakthrough meets these demands with a low-cost solution.
Swave HXR in AR glasses
Swave’s holographic technology could make AR glasses as affordable as today’s smart glasses, while reducing the weight, increasing brightness and resolution, extending battery life, working with prescription lenses, and solving the vergence accommodation conflict (VAC) that makes near-eye displays uncomfortable for some people.
Swave CEO Mike Noonen told me the bill of materials (BOM) is just $50 per eye and the expected weight of AR glasses using HXR technology could be less than 50 grams. The FoV and apparent resolution are tunable with a view as wide as 120 degrees and a retina-like resolution of up to 60 pixels per degree (PPD). Battery life is estimated at more than 10 hours, making these suitable for daily wear. A display intensity of over 2,000 nits makes virtual images visible outdoors.
If Swave can deliver on these promises, next-generation AR glasses could eclipse everything else on the market. For comparison, Xreal One smart glasses boast an FoV of 50 degrees, a resolution of 38 PPD, and brightness of 600 nits in an 84-gram product. They’re comfortable and deliver performance and quality good enough that I use Xreal One as an ultrawide monitor replacement.
Swave also developed a real-time holographic processing unit (HPU) to handle the calculations required to convert an 3D or 2D image into subpixels that form interference patterns. When a low-power laser illuminates the HXR display a holographic image appears.
Since the HXR is a phase-change system, it takes no power to retain an image, providing a way to maximize efficiency by slowing the refresh rate in HUD mode. For AR use and immersive experiences, pixels can be updated in 300 ns.
Swave HXR in 2026?
So far, Swave has been quietly working in their labs and demonstrating only conceptual designs at trade shows. We’re eager to see the first prototype of Swave-powered AR glasses, which should be available within a few months.
If this holographic display technology is as good as Swave claims, it could greatly accelerate the availability of full-featured AR glasses. Swave’s Mike Noonen estimates HXR and HPU technology could become available to consumers as early as 2026. Swave won’t be launching consumer products itself so the timing depends on manufacturing partners.
Alternatives for 2025
If you’re intrigued but don’t want to wait until 2025, there are plenty of great solutions you can buy and start using immediately. I recently reviewed several Meta Orion alternatives that give your phone a HUD in glasses form. Notifications, turn-by-turn directions, live captions, translations, and AI assistance work hands-free.
If you want to watch videos or play games on a virtual cinematic screen with a pocket-sized device, the best smart glasses with displays make that possible. Audio smart glasses double as open-ear earbuds and voice-enabled AI assistants. Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses combine AI smart glasses with a camera that can record high-quality first-person videos and take hands-free photos.
You can even connect Xreal One and Viture One smart glasses to your computer to enjoy an ultrawide screen without the bulk and expense of a big monitor. That’s great for laptops that have small screens that rest far below eye level.
The current selection of smart glasses have relatively small FoVs so you’ll see the edge if you use software that simulates ultrawide screens or multiple windows. If you’re looking for a more immersive experience, check out the best VR headsets that can transport you to other worlds or place virtual objects anywhere in your space with mixed reality.
Stay tuned for more coverage of Swave and other exciting AR and VR news. 2025 is shaping up to be a huge year for XR technology.
