When Samsung initially released its virtual reality headset for mobile platforms earlier this year, they called it Innovator Edition. Now, the Korean-based company is preparing their product for release – it’s finally consumer-ready!
The new and improved Samsung Gear VR will cost $99 and it will start shipping this November.
The announcement was made on the 24th of September during the Oculus Connect 2 developer conference that took place in Los Angeles. Peter Koo, who is Samsung’s Vice President of Mobile took to the conference’s stage to announce their plans.
This comes right in time for US’s Black Friday event. It will start selling worldwide shortly after its United States debut.
More so, proving that it wants the virtual reality industry to bloom, Samsung is committing to Oculus Rift’s goal – to make VR a mass-market product. That’s the only way to entice VR enthusiasts to buy a headset.
The new and improved Samsung Gear VR will work with all the company’s flagship phones that where released in 2015. This means that if you have recently acquired a Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 and Note 5, you own a VR compatible device.
Samsung’s VR headset now sports a 22 percent lighter hardware. Koo notes that this makes the headset more comfortable to use for extended periods of times. Also, the touchpad found in the side of the headset has received a somewhat complete make-over. Yet, Koo didn’t care to talk more about what this actually entails.
Users will have access to an expanding universe of premium content, Koo noted. This, however, is more than confusing, and nobody knows what he is talking about. Will Samsung build a special platform a la Steam for their Gear VR headset?
This sub-$100 price feels like an aggressive strategy to gain dominance over the VR market, which is yet to crown a king. Furthermore, we don’t even have an industry standard at the moment.
Joining the ranks of Google’s Cardboard, Zeiss VR One and DODOcase, the new and improved Samsung Gear VR will most likely be a hit this holiday season.
Samsung Gear VR headset comes with its very own controller.
A more performance-driven headset will be released at the beginning of 2016. Yes, we are talking about Facebook’s Oculus Rift. But don’t expect Oculus to go under the $100 threshold. Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe has hinted that their device will retail at around $500. Yet, if you want to use their headset you’ll have to use a $1000 machine.
VR is coming strong in 2016 and the mobile platform is one of its key destinations due to its large distribution capabilities.
There’s also a little VR device called Full Dive aimed at emerging markets that is yet to surface. Read our interview with one of Full Dive’s co-founders if you are interested in more details.
