Lumus Unveils New AR Waveguides; A Meta-Backed VR Education Program Expands

A Maximus glasses-style waveguide coupled to its display engine. Photo: Lumus. Illustration: Mike Sullivan.

Israel-based Lumus likes to say that its OE Maximus is one of the highest-quality see-through displays for AR glasses—a waveguide—currently available to device makers. Today the company is revealing two new Maximus variants, and the ways they differ from the original suggest the company is getting serious about putting its tech in consumer glasses.

The two products, a 16:9 1080P version and a square aspect ratio 1440P version, are planned to launch in the third and fourth quarter of this year respectively. Both are steps down in resolution from the original Maximus, which boasts a 2048x2048 square image (that’s high— the HoloLens 2’s maximum render resolution is 1440x936, for instance). Every AR glasses hopeful wants to offer ultra-high so-called retina resolutions in the future, but coming to market with newer, lower resolution displays suggests that Lumus wants to be a supplier for affordable, functional glasses sooner than that.