Lumus received a significant enhance in model recognition when certainly one of its waveguides was chosen to be used within the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. However that already looks like previous tech now as a result of at CES 2026, the corporate introduced a few of its newest parts to the present and based mostly on what I noticed, they appear poised to significantly elevate the optical high quality of the following wave of high-end smartglasses.
When the Meta Ray-Ban Shows glasses got here out, they wowed customers as they had been (and nonetheless are) certainly one of a handful of smartglassess to function a full-color in-lens show with a minimum of a 20-degree discipline of view. However going by the specs on Lumus’ latest waveguides, we’re set for a significant improve by way of future capabilities.
Should you look intently, you possibly can see the place gentle from the waveguide propagates into the one of many smartglasses’ lenses. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
The primary mannequin I attempted featured Lumus’ optimized Z-30 waveguides, which not solely provide a a lot wider 30-degree FOV, they’re additionally 30 % lighter and 40 % thinner than earlier generations. On prime of that, Lumus says they’re additionally extra energy environment friendly with the waveguides able to hitting greater than 8,000 nits per watt. This can be a large deal as a result of smartglasses are at the moment fairly restricted by the scale of batteries they’ll use, particularly if you wish to make them small and light-weight sufficient to put on all day. After I tried them on, I used to be dazzled by each the brightness and sharpness I noticed from the Z-30s regardless of them being restricted to 720 x 720 decision. Not solely did the rise in FOV really feel a lot bigger than 10 levels, colours had been very wealthy, together with white, which is commonly some of the tough shades to correctly reproduce.
I needed to take a photograph of certainly one of Lumus’ non-functioning smartglasses with the corporate’s 70-degree FOV waveguide, as a result of two out of three of the working ones had already broke and the final one which I used was being held collectively by tape. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Nonetheless, even after seeing how good that first mannequin was, I used to be completely not ready for Lumus’ 70-degree FOV waveguides. I used to be capable of view some movies and a handful of check photographs and I used to be fully blown away with how a lot space they lined. It was principally your entire middle portion of the lens, with solely small unused areas across the corners. And whereas I did discover some pincushion distortion alongside the perimeters of the waveguide’s show, a Lumus consultant informed me that it will likely be doable to appropriate for that in last retail models. However make no mistake, these waveguides undoubtedly produced a number of the sharpest, brightest and best-looking optics I’ve seen from any smartglasses, from both retail fashions or prototypes or. It virtually made me query how a lot wider FOV most of these devices really want, although to be clear, I don’t assume we’ve hit the purpose of diminishing returns but.
That is certainly one of Lumus’ thinnest waveguides measuring in at simply 0.8mm. (Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Different benefits of Lumus’ geometric reflective waveguides embrace higher total effectivity than their refractive counterparts together with the power to optically bond the shows to smartglasses lenses. Meaning not like a number of rivals, Lumus’ waveguides might be paired with transitions lenses as a substitute of needing to resort to clip-on sunglass attachments while you go outdoors. Lumus additionally claims its designs additionally simplifies the manufacturing course of, leading to thinner waveguides (as small as 0.8mm) and usually greater yields.
Sadly, taking high-quality images of content material from smartglasses shows is extremely difficult, particularly while you’re utilizing extraordinarily delicate prototypes, so that you’ll simply should take my phrase for now. However with Lumus within the strategy of ramping up manufacturing of its new waveguides with assist from companions together with Quanta and SCHOTT, it looks like there shall be a ton of smartglasses makers clamoring for these parts as momentum continues to construct round the industry’s pick for the next “big” thing.
