Pimax 60G AirLink
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| Pimax 60G AirLink | |
|---|---|
| Basic Info | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Type | Accessory |
| Subtype | Wireless video adapter |
| Platform | PC VR |
| Developer | Pimax |
| Manufacturer | Pimax |
| Announcement Date | 26 October 2021 (60 GHz add-on, with the Reality 12K QLED); 6 October 2026 (third generation) |
| Price | US$599 (third-generation kit, announced price); US$1,899 bundled with the Crystal Pro; US$299 (earlier kit for the original Crystal, announced April 2024) |
| Versions | Earlier kit for the original Crystal (announced 2024, beta tested 2025); third-generation kit for the Crystal Pro (announced 2026) |
| Requires | Pimax Crystal Pro (third generation); Pimax Crystal (earlier kit) |
| Connectivity | |
| Connectivity | 60 GHz (WiGig); third generation: 2x2 MIMO with Wi-Fi fallback |
The Pimax 60G AirLink is a 60 GHz wireless video link made by Pimax for its PC VR headsets. Pimax has used the name for more than one version of the accessory. An earlier kit for the original Pimax Crystal was demonstrated at CES in January 2024 and priced at US$299 in April 2024, but its shipment was delayed while Pimax ran an external beta.[1][2][3] On 6 October 2026 Pimax announced a third-generation kit for the Pimax Crystal Pro, at US$599 on its own or US$1,899 bundled with the headset.[4]
The third-generation kit uses two room antennas in a 2x2 MIMO configuration, which Pimax states is the first 60 GHz 2x2 MIMO wireless link on a VR headset. With the headset's eye tracking, it sends the GPU's image for the area the user is looking at without video encoding. Pimax gives a combined throughput of up to 6 Gbps and less than 2 ms of added latency.[4] Pimax said shipping dates for the Crystal Pro and the third-generation kit would be announced later, and its FAQ said Crystal Pro shipping was set to start in spring 2027.[4][5]
History
60 GHz add-on for the Reality 12K QLED (2021)
When Pimax announced the Pimax Reality 12K QLED in October 2021, it listed "Wi-Fi 6E, optional 60GHz add-on" for wireless use and said it would offer swappable faceplate modules, one of them for "60GHz WiGig for wireless streaming". Road to VR reported that the planned Pimax VR Station would include the WiGig module. No price or release date was given for the add-on.[6] In April 2024 Road to VR described the "60GHz wireless add-on for streaming PC VR" as one of three products announced alongside the 12K headset in 2021, and listed it among the company's older promises that remained unfulfilled, while reporting the new price and launch plan.[7]
Kit for the original Crystal (2024-2025)
At CES 2024 Pimax showed the "60G AirLink wireless module" paired with the original Crystal in a private demonstration. Its press release said the module used 60G millimeter-wave technology and that the products were "slated for official release to consumers in the near future", without giving a date or a price.[1]
At its Frontier event on 15 April 2024, Pimax said the hardware shown at CES was finalized and set a price of US$299.[2][8] Road to VR reported that the company was taking reservations and planned a launch in the third quarter of 2024.[7] Pimax described a lightweight dongle that attaches to the headset through a micro-HDMI connection and a combined transmitter and receiver that connects to the PC over HDMI. It said the kit would support the full 2880 x 2880 resolution per eye at 90 Hz with minimal compression and "ultra-low latency", and it gave an expected battery life of two to three hours.[8][2] UploadVR wrote that the adapter had been promised at the Crystal's reveal almost two years earlier, and that the Pimax Crystal Light and Pimax Crystal Super announced at the same event would not support it because they drop the original Crystal's onboard chipset and battery.[9]
At CES 2025 the blogger Skarredghost tried the kit for a few minutes with a Crystal running Space Pirate Trainer from a PC, in a demo area where Pimax used a metal cage to shield the link from show-floor interference. He found the image "quite good" with no visible loss of resolution, but reported noticeable lag on controller movement, stuttering, a freeze of about half a second, and a periphery that went black during fast movement. He concluded that it "still needs work before being ready for prime time"; Pimax told him that performance was usually better than in that demo.[10]
In a delivery update dated 13 November 2025, Pimax said an external beta of the 60G AirLink for the original Crystal had started at the beginning of that year. It said the visual performance had "received great praise" but that the stability of the connection still needed improvement, because testers' rooms and PC configurations affected it. Pimax wrote that it was still improving the kit before mass production and shipping, that this was "not a total rehaul", and that "the current ETA for the 60G Airlink shipment is set for next year."[3] A Wi-Fi streaming feature for the original Crystal, listed as "OG Crystal WiFi-Airlink" and in beta in the September 2025 Pimax Play roadmap, is separate from the 60 GHz kit.[11]
Third generation (2026)
Pimax announced the third-generation 60G AirLink kit on 6 October 2026 at its Frontier event, together with the Crystal Pro, the Pimax Ringless VR Controllers and the Pimax Spation mini PC.[4] The announcement and FAQ describe only this kit and the Crystal Pro; they do not say how the first and second generations differed.[4][5]
| Offer (announced 6 October 2026) | Contents | Announced price |
|---|---|---|
| 60G AirLink kit (third generation), sold separately | Two headset antennas, two Room Antennas, two USB-C cables | US$599[5] |
| Pimax Crystal Pro with 60G AirLink (third generation) | Crystal Pro set plus the kit | US$1,899[4] |
Reservations for the Crystal Pro opened at US$1, with US$50 off the bundle with the third-generation kit.[5] The press release says shipping dates for the Crystal Pro and the kit "will be announced at a later date"; the FAQ gives hands-on demos from the fourth quarter of 2026 and Crystal Pro shipping from spring 2027, without a separate date for the kit.[4][5] Road to VR and MIXED both reported the kit's price and Pimax's throughput and latency claims, and Road to VR presented the Crystal Pro as Pimax's attempt to take on Valve's Steam Frame.[12][13]
Design and operation
All figures for the third-generation kit are Pimax's announced specifications.
The kit has two Room Antennas, which the user places facing each other across the play space, and two antennas that slot onto the headset.[5] Pimax's product page says the headset antennas extend past the user's head for a clear line of sight.[14] According to the FAQ, the headset antennas form a narrow beam aimed at the Room Antennas and steered electronically, with nothing moving physically, while the headset and Room Antennas track their positions relative to each other with infrared LEDs.[5]
The Room Antennas and headset form two signal paths at the same time (2x2 MIMO). Pimax says the two paths split the data stream for more bandwidth than a single-antenna system and back each other up: if the user's arm or body blocks one path, the other keeps the connection going.[4][5] If the 60 GHz signal is lost entirely, the headset falls back to Wi-Fi, which the Crystal Pro uses as its standard wireless connection with a Wi-Fi 6E adapter in the box.[5][4] Pimax says that with the right setup the headset can cover a play space of five by five meters. As with other 60 GHz systems, the signal does not pass through walls, so both ends must be in the same room.[5][4][14]
Pimax calls the way the Crystal Pro uses the kit Native Foveated Streaming. The PC renders the full frame; Pimax software takes the area the user is looking at directly from the GPU output without encoding it; the 60 GHz link carries it; and the headset combines this uncompressed focus area with the more efficiently streamed rest of the view.[5] The press release says the link delivers an image equivalent to 2880 x 2880 pixels per eye at up to 90 Hz in the focus area.[4] Road to VR noted that the Crystal Pro's eye tracking is used for dynamic foveated rendering and, with the kit installed, for foveated streaming.[12] Pimax's FAQ says the Spation mini PC works with the 60G AirLink, but that the kit is not built into it.[5]
| Item | Kit for the original Crystal (announced 2024) | Third-generation kit (announced 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Headset | Pimax Crystal[8] | Pimax Crystal Pro[4] |
| Hardware | Headset dongle (micro-HDMI) and combined transmitter and receiver connected to the PC over HDMI[8] | Two headset antennas, two Room Antennas, two USB-C cables[4] |
| Link | 60 GHz WiGig[8] | 60 GHz, 2x2 MIMO, up to 6 Gbps combined[4] |
| Image | Full 2880 x 2880 per eye at 90 Hz, minimal compression[8] | Equivalent to 2880 x 2880 per eye at up to 90 Hz in the focus area, without video encoding[4] |
| Latency | "Ultra-low latency"[8] | Under 2 ms added latency[4] |
| Play area | Not stated in the sources consulted | Up to 5 x 5 m with the right setup[5] |
| Fallback | Not stated in the sources consulted | Wi-Fi[5] |
| Announced price | US$299[2] | US$599; US$1,899 with Crystal Pro[5] |
| Status (October 2026) | External beta from early 2025; shipment expected in 2026 per Pimax's November 2025 update[3] | Announced; shipping date not given[4] |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Pimax Unveils Groundbreaking VR Innovations at CES 2024". TechNode Global. PR Newswire. 2024-01-11. https://technode.global/prnasia/pimax-unveils-groundbreaking-vr-innovations-at-ces-2024/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Josef Erl (2024-04-15). "Pimax introduces new Crystal Super & Crystal Light VR headsets". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/pimax-introduces-new-crystal-super-crystal-light-vr-headsets/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jaap Grolleman (2025-11-13). "Updated Delivery Times for Upcoming Products". Pimax blog. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/explore/blogs/updated-delivery-times-for-upcoming-products. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 Jaap Grolleman (2026-10-06). "Pimax Unveils Crystal Pro with Native Foveated Streaming, Sending the GPU's Native Image Wirelessly to the Headset". Pimax blog. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/explore/blogs/pimax-unveils-crystal-pro-with-native-foveated-streaming-sending-the-gpus-native-image-wirelessly-to-the-headset. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 Jaap Grolleman (2026-10-06). "Pimax Frontier 2026 FAQ". Pimax blog. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/explore/blogs/pimax-frontier-2026-faq. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ Ben Lang (2021-10-26). "Pimax Announces Wildly Ambitious New Standalone VR Headset with a Price to Match". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/pimax-reality-12k-qled-announcement-release-date-price-specs/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ben Lang (2024-04-15). "Pimax Has Two New Headsets on the Way While Older Promises Remain Unfulfilled". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/pimax-crystal-12k-reality-airlink-wireless-vr-station-delay/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Jaap Grolleman (2024-05-13). "Pimax reveals two new high-end VR headsets at its annual Frontier keynote". Pimax blog. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/explore/blogs/pimax-reveals-two-new-high-end-vr-headsets-at-its-annual-frontier-keynote. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ David Heaney (2024-04-15). "Pimax Announces New Wired PC VR Headsets: $700 Crystal Light & $1800 Crystal Super". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pimax-crystal-light-and-crystal-super/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ Skarredghost (2025-01-08). "CES 25: hands on with Pimax Crystal Super and the 60G Airlink". The Ghost Howls. https://skarredghost.com/2025/01/08/pimax-crystal-super-hands-on/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ Vera Liu (2025-09-19). "Pimax Play Roadmap". Pimax blog. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/explore/blogs/pimax-play-roadmap. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Scott Hayden (2026-10-06). "Pimax Aims to Take on Steam Frame with New 'Crystal Pro' Headset, Priced at $1,400". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/pimax-steam-frame-crystal-pro-price-release/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ Chris Steven (2026-10-07). "Pimax's $1,399 Crystal Pro uses the same panels and lenses as the $899 Crystal Light". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/pimax-crystal-pro-same-panels-lenses-as-crystal-light/. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Pimax Crystal Pro: Crystal clarity, now wireless". Pimax. Pimax. https://www.pimax.com/product/crystal-pro. Retrieved 2026-10-27.