Pimax Reality 12K QLED VR headset has impressive specifications

By Satsuki Then/Oct. 26, 2021 7:08 am EST

Virtual reality games and hardware have increased in popularity over the last few years, leading many fans of VR to hope for improved hardware. Pimax has revealed a new virtual-reality headset with impressive specifications called the Pimax Reality 12K QLED. That headset has eye-tracking, full-body tracking, and up to 200-hertz refresh rates.

Pimax says the goals with its new headset are to improve the user's naturalness, self-awareness, and freedom when enjoying virtual-reality headsets. The headset utilizes a technology called Gemini, combining the quality of a PC VR headset that's connected at all times with the freedom of typically less powerful headsets that need no PC.

Pimax Reality 12K QLED will use two different engines, and the company worked Nvidia to optimize the graphics quality of the headset. Pimax Reality 12K QLED supports Nvidia DLSS, VRSS, DSC, and Cloud XR technology. The first of the two engines is a custom PC VR engine, and the second is the Qualcomm Snapdragon VR engine.

Pimax says graphics are improved in standalone mode by leveraging two engines, providing additional freedom with minimal impact to visual quality. However, there are differences when it is running in native PC VR mode or standalone VR mode. Particularly, there is a difference in resolution with 12K possible in native PC VR mode while 8K/5K as possible in standalone VR mode.

The refresh rate in native PC VR mode is up to 200 hertz, while the refresh rate for standalone VR mode is only up to 120 hertz. The field-of-view is 200 degrees horizontally, 135 degrees vertically, and 240 degrees diagonally in native mode compared to 150 degrees horizontally, 135 degrees vertically, and 200 degrees diagonally in standalone mode.

The display technology used in the headset is mini-LED and QLED, the same tech Apple is using in its new MacBook notebooks. The Pimax Reality 12K QLED headset features a 5.5-inch display inside with 5000 mini LEDs. A total of 11 cameras for tracking eye movement, facial expressions, hand movement, and body movement are integrated, and the headset supports Wi-Fi 6E technology. It may come as no surprise considering all the technology in the headset that it's very expensive, ringing in at $2399. The headset will ship in late 2022.