3D smartphones have come and gone a few times over the years . HTC and LG seek take a crap 3D sound the next big matter in 2011 with little succeeder . Amazon ’s Fire Phone attempted to raise the 3D earpiece craze in 2014 , and , perhaps most infamous , the Red Hydrogen One examine again in 2018 .
We have n’t understand any 3D phones since then , but it looks like that ’s arrange to change . AtCES 2025 , I had a private demo session withLeia , a caller that converts 2D displays into 3D ones . My demonstration seance begin by seeing how this works on monitors , laptop , and lozenge — including one launched last February .
My final demo , the one I was look for , was with a prototype of Leia ’s 3D technical school on a smartphone . If you ask Leia , the prototype resemble how it thinks all smartphones should work in the future tense .
Leia’s 3D tech really works
Leia creates its 3-D figure of speech using clever trickery of your center . When 3D mental imagery is enable on a Leia machine , you ’re really seeing two set of the same simulacrum . However , using a photographic camera and oculus - tracking , Leia is able to only show your correct optic one image and your left-hand eye the other — ensue in a spyglass - free 3D viewing experience .
My first few demos on 4 potassium and 8 KB monitors were peculiarly telling . I playedShadow of the Tomb Raider , Lies of P , andTunic — all in 3D — and they all expect astonishingly good . For me , it was less about the images bulge out out of the screen and more about the extra astuteness the 3-D added to each plot .
I ’ve expend hours running aroundTunic , and seeing that earthly concern transformed into a 3D landscape painting was quite something . I ’m in the main not the openhanded 3D fan , but it was something I could see myself spending a pile of hour with . Playing these games in 3-D made me feel like I was part of the plot world ; like I was looking directly into it rather than just a moving picture picture on a screen . It ’s not something you may show on camera or in pictures , but the death event is a lot more telling than I had anticipated .
Using a 3D smartphone in 2025
How does all of that translate to a telephone set ? Leia is still developing it ( hence the prototype nature of the handset I used ) , and while it ’s certainly not perfect , it is off to a promising start .
On all of Leia ’s three-D displays , admit its phone , you could seamlessly switch between 2D and 3D with the water faucet of a button . When you do n’t want 3D , the phone take care like any other 2D control board uncommitted today . When you do require three-D , you ’re just a tap off .
What can you use three-D for ? you could enable it anytime , so if you want to browse your domicile concealment or scroll through Reddit in three-D , you could . However , the principal benefit — and what you ’ll in all likelihood want to use the 3D for most — is watch videos in 3D. you’re able to watch content that was already created in 3D. What ’s more impressive is that you could also convert any 2D videos into 3D ones .
I watched a smattering of these during my metre with the phone , and while not quite as immersive as the monitor demos , the same feeling of spare depth was there . Rather than just watching a video , it adds an element of feeling like the phone is a portal site into whatever you ’re watching — like you ’re almost there .
Of of course , the 3D is n’t perfect . Compared to the large - admonisher demo I begin out with , the 3D on the earpiece feel more … contrived . That ’s not surprising considering the much little concealment Leia has to play with , but it ’s something I could n’t help but notice . The camera also failed to record my facial expression multiple clip for the 3D to work .
It ’s deserving iterate that this phone is still a image , so it makes sense that some things likely still ask to be worked out . Leia ’s phone is n’t there quite yet , but the company is get there .
Are 3D phones back for good?
As I was leaving my demonstration academic term , Leia ’s VP of marketing , Jochem Taminiau , said that Leia ’s vision of the future is one where every telephone can ( and should ) be a 3D one .
Is a 3D future tense really what lies ahead of us for our smartphones ? The tech is impressive and turn as advertised , but why should we think Leia will succeed today when so many other 3D phones come and failed before it ?
That I do n’t have the answer to . However , as someone who always loves to see unexampled and uncanny things happening in the smartphone world , I ’m happy Leia is attempt to get 3D earphone right , and I hope there ’s at least some truth to its imagination of a 3D smartphone hereafter .
