Over the past year, we hadn’t heard much about Sony’s SRH-S1 mixed reality headset after its big reveal at CES 2024. But finally, the company has broken its silence with an official launch date and pricing details for this enterprise-focused device.
Teaming up with Siemens, Sony has introduced the SRH-S1, a headset set to make its debut in February 2025, with a price tag of $4,750. Clearly aiming at professional environments, the preorder window opens on January 23rd, 2025, and purchases will be handled directly through Siemens.
Last year, Sony and Siemens positioned the SRH-S1 as a tool for creative professionals. However, their focus has shifted towards industrial applications. They claim that the SRH-S1 will “enable the industrial metaverse,” providing advanced capabilities for product design and manufacturing, thanks to Siemens’ sophisticated mixed reality tools.
For visuals, the headset boasts a 13.6 megapixel (3,552 × 3,840) resolution per eye using Sony’s advanced ECX344A OLED microdisplay. It’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset. Sony also mentions a cutting-edge “proprietary rendering technology” for real-time 3D object rendering, which should be intriguing for those in high-detail fields.
The SRH-S1 isn’t just about visuals; it includes passthrough video, a handy flip-up visor, and innovative ergonomic controllers. These controllers take the form of a stylus-type pointer and a ring, enhancing the user experience with intuitive 3D interactions.
Over the last year, Siemens has also been busy fine-tuning its Immersive Engineering tools. These enterprise-focused tools aim to empower SRH-S1 users to design 3D assets in CAD, interact with detailed models, and conduct multi-user design reviews remotely through Siemens’ cloud-based NX X platform.
Expressing excitement about this venture, Bob Haubrock, senior VP of Product Engineering Software at Siemens Digital Industries Software, shared, “After previewing the HMD at CES last year, our teams have developed tools that are transforming mixed reality’s role in engineering. They’re not just supporting global collaboration with high-fidelity 3D models; they’re enabling co-creation directly on critical 3D CAD data in a managed, secure environment.”
In other news from CES, Sony announced a prosumer-focused headset named XYN. While it doesn’t yet have a release date or price, it’s believed that this prototype could be a variant of the SRH-S1, sporting a sleek black design compared to the SRH-S1’s distinctive grey. Sony remains tight-lipped about further details, but it’s definitely one to keep an eye on for those in the creative industry.
