Virtual reality might seem more of a buzzword to the average joe but the fact remains that a lot of companies are now actively working on solutions that can be sold as commercial products in the near future. Look no further than the Oculus Rift or Sony’s Project Morpheus. Another player with very deep pockets might be about to enter this arena. A Samsung virtual reality headset is reportedly being developed and may be released within this year.
Citing sources close to Samsung, Engadget reports that the company is working on a virtual reality headset. Apparently there’s an element of urgency to this project. Samsung wants to beat Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus to the market. Both projects are backed with big companies, Sony needs no introduction and Oculus was recently acquired by Facebook for $2 billion.
The report claims that Samsung has already provided prototypes to several top tier developers. Prototypes are said to work exclusively with some of Samsung’s latest flagship devices like the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3. Its possible that the finished product will require more power meaning that it has been designed to primarily work with future flagship tablets and smartphones from Samsung.
The Samsung virtual reality headset is claimed to have a “as good or better” display than the 1080p OLED panel that Oculus put in the Rift after the most recent hardware revision. The scribe isn’t clear on how this headset will connect to the company’s devices, it merely guesses that a wired connection might be required. It does point out that this isn’t Samsung’s rumored Gear Glass project, its merely a headset “created by Samsung, powered by Samsung products.”
Like it does in the mobile market Samsung is expected to compete against its rivals on price. Apparently the company is targeting a lower price point, since its a virtual reality headset it certainly won’t be dirt cheap, but the idea is to undercut both the Rift and Project Morpheus. The primary use for this headset is said to be gameplay, but given that there aren’t a lot of VR games out there for Android, Samsung will probably have get developers to commit prior to a launch.
No details about pricing and availability have been provided. Samsung has said that it doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation so no hints from Korea just yet. We’ll keep our ear to the ground and update once we hear more about the headset.
Filed in . Read more about Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus, Samsung and Virtual Reality (VR).