Quick Take: Varjo XR-4 Doubles Down on Passthrough and Resolution While Cutting Price in Half

Varjo is launching the XR-4 mixed reality headset for enterprises, with 4K per-eye resolution and passthrough with a significantly larger field of view than the company’s XR-3 (Varjo press release). The big news isn't just that the tech is (a lot) better, but also that the price is down by about half – it now starts at $3990 – and the software subscription is gone. The XR-4 also comes with inside-out tracking and controllers in the box – there is no longer a need to track down Steam accessories, though the XR-4 still must be tethered to a high-end gaming PC or workstation, ideally with an Nvidia RTX4000 series GPU.

The XR-4 has fixed cameras for mixed reality, but the XR-4 Focal Edition has a unique autofocus system, enabling the focus to shift to where you are looking in the room and adjust the image in the headset accordingly. It's wild -- and pricey; the XR-4 Focal Edition is $9990. There are other editions, too: Varjo has defense industry customers who use its headsets to train fighter pilots or design the planes, so there is an XR-4 Secure Edition manufactured in Finland, certified, and can be configured without outside connectivity.

I've spoken to Varjo execs about the XR-4 but I haven't had a chance to demo this in person yet, and I'm eager to rectify that, likely at CES. I have demo’d the Apple Vision Pro, and Apple is definitely targeting some of the same use cases, either initially or down the road. The passthrough on Varjo’s XR-3 and on products like Meta’s Quest 3 are useful but they never fool you into thinking that you aren’t looking at a display in a headset. Apple’s Vision Pro does pull off this trick – at least in short demos – and that is the promise of Varjo’s XR-4. This level of immersion can open up new spatial computing applications, especially for automotive design and flight simulation with physical instrumentation.

Varjo claims 25% of the Fortune 500 are Varjo customers. Varjo's ability to keep innovating while lowering prices bodes well for its future. For now, Varjo has plenty of differentiation: it has access to much greater GPU resources, constant power, certifications, and software – you can become certified as a pilot in the EU on a Varjo system, and companies like Volvo have already embedded it into their enterprise workflows. The XR-4’s easier out-of-box experience, increased capabilities, and lower cost should grow the market among Varjo’s design, aviation, simulation, and engineering customer base. And you can order an XR-4 today.

This Quick Take is deliberately concise. To discuss further details and analysis and the implications of this report on your business, product, or investment strategies, contact Techsponential at avi@techsponential.com.