September 2026 #XR in a #nutshell
September is traditionally a busy month for XR, and 2026 will be no exception. Smart glasses are always making headlines. Yet, between Meta’s announcements, Samsung’s prototypes, and startup innovations, the market resembles a marathon where everyone is running… but no one really knows which finish line they’ll reach. Perhaps because the real question isn’t « when will it happen? » but « does anyone really need it? » Spoiler alert: companies have already answered yes, but the tech giants aren’t listening.
- Canon unveiled a mixed-reality sports broadcasting technology that allows viewers to watch a basketball game in 3D from any angle they choose, using about 100 cameras.
- At Connect 2026, Meta unveiled its new lightweight VR headsets, a partnership with K-pop star Lisa, and a $1 million contest to encourage the creation of controller-free applications.
- Morphotonics raised 40 million euros to scale up the production of optical components for smart glasses.
- ENGAGE XR announced its liquidation following the withdrawal of its main client, illustrating the sector’s financial fragility.
- Snap is selling its standalone Specs glasses for 2,295 euros through Orange in France, targeting a niche market of professionals and developers.
- Vive’s Eagles glasses are now available in Europe.
- A study by Florida Atlantic University shows that smart glasses enable people with intellectual disabilities to perform work tasks with 93% accuracy.
- Augmented reality is finding practical applications in remote medical consultations with XRHealth, in agricultural harvesting, and in street art at the Peinture Fraîche festival.
- Meta is also developing camera-less glasses designed for privacy-conscious users.
Get full access to my XR intelligence (complete sources, weekly insights) and a 30-minute advisory session to secure your XR decisions: Subscribe to the paid version on Substack => https://augmentedrealitygregorymaubon.substack.com
Jobs
- [Fixed-term contract] Researcher in cognitive psychology and virtual reality – Armed Forces Health Service – Brétigny-sur-Orge – 18-09-2026
- [Fixed-term contract] Research Engineer/Developer UNITY/UNREAL – University of Lille – Tourcoing – 16-09-2026
Future events
- Meet Up 26: Immersive digital cultural experiences, cross-disciplinary perspectives between museums and immersive rooms – October 8, 2026 – online
- COMET Project Acceleration Day #3 – October 1st – Tourcoing
- IEEE ISMAR 2026 – Oct. 5 – Oct. 9 – Bari
- LEXRA Summit – 5 & 6 October 2026 – Dallss
- jf•XR 2026 from October 14 to 16, 2026 – Orsay
- Second Workshop on Enhancing Security, Privacy, and Trust in Extended Reality (XR) Systems – October 30 – Austin
- International Conference on Virtual Reality in Medicine and Healthcare ICVRMH – October 26-27 – Paris
- XR DAYS 2026 – October 13 and 14 – Vénissieux
- IHM’26 – October 19-23, 2026 – Villeneuve d’Ascq
- IMMERSIVE X 2026 – THE GLOBAL XR FESTIVAL IN VR – November 10-12, 2026 – Online
- MatchXR – Metaverse Finland Event – November 12, 2026 – Helsinki
- Virtual Worlds Partnership (VWP) Annual Forum 2026 – November 2, 2026 – Valencia
- EuroXR 2026 – November 3rd to 6th – Valencia
Augmented Times – Monthly Augmented Reality News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
