Wait a minute—does the Apple Vision Pro actually come in black? Not quite, but the Play For Dream MR certainly does. Some people are dubbing it the “Android Vision Pro” because it’s powered by an Android-based OS. This latest offering from Play For Dream generated a lot of buzz at CES 2025 last week.
Last year, Play For Dream, a China-based company, debuted its headset in Asia with clear inspirations from the Vision Pro. The aim was to introduce this Mixed Reality (MR) headset to Western markets. Launching a Kickstarter campaign in September, the Play For Dream MR managed to raise a whopping 2,271,650 Hong Kong dollars, which is about $292,000 USD.
This MR headset is feature-packed with all the bells and whistles of modern XR technology. It boasts a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset and runs on Android 15. It features dual 3,840 × 3,552 micro-OLED displays with a 90Hz refresh rate, eye-tracking, and automatic IPD adjustment. Additionally, it offers wired and wireless PC streaming capabilities, comes with a rear-mounted battery similar to the Quest Pro, and includes Touch-style controllers.
In essence, it’s a fully loaded device—even borrowing the Vision Pro’s user interface for a seamless experience.
Moving beyond its design influences, former Quest engineer Amanda Watson had an opportunity to get hands-on with the Play For Dream MR at CES. She shared on social media that it was “absolutely the best all-around HMD demo I saw on the floor today.”
Watson added, “It is quite literally an ‘Android Apple Vision Pro,’ but the execution was excellent. Great performance, optics, UI, and media capture/playback features,” which is high praise coming from someone who left Meta in 2022.
During her tenure at Meta/Oculus, Watson contributed to various Quest-related initiatives, including work on the tethered Link and Air Link, the company’s Wi-Fi streaming tool. Interestingly, she was the sole developer of Air Link for an entire 13 months before its launch. When someone with that kind of background praises a product, it’s certainly worth paying attention to.
She mentioned that the headset allows for USB and wireless PCVR streaming, noting, “I tried USB—this was more work-in-progress quality (frame rate and latency) compared to other features, but it’s a relatively recent addition as I understand it. The basics like controller motion were nailed down and the resolution was solid.”
Furthermore, Watson noted that the Touch-style controllers were “also very good.” While the headset is supposed to support hand tracking, this feature wasn’t showcased at the event. The pancake lenses impressed her with “excellent distortion correction,” which she remarked was a noteworthy feature personally.
Established in 2020 under the name YVR, Play For Dream has already rolled out two generations of standalone VR headsets—YVR 1 and YVR 2—both launched in China in 2022.
As of now, Play For Dream MR hasn’t announced a firm release date or price tag, but the company assures it’ll be under $2,000. For those interested in more details, you can visit Play For Dream’s website to keep an eye out for the complete specifications and ordering information when it becomes available.
