Facebook Reportedly Developing $200 Standalone Oculus VR Headset

Facebook cemented its position in the virtual reality market with the acquisition of Oculus. The company already sells a full-fledged virtual reality headset but since that’s an expensive proposition, it can certainly do more to get VR to as many people as possible. To that end, Facebook-owned Oculus is said to be working with Xiaomi on a new wireless standalone VR headset that it’s going to release for $200 next year.

Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the development, that the new virtual reality headset from Oculus is going to be a standalone unit so it will not require a smartphone or PC to function.

Like the existing Rift headset from Oculus, the new headset will be developed for immersive gaming, social networking, and video consumption. The device is reportedly codenamed “Pacific” and is said to look like a more compact version of the Rift. It’s even said to be lighter than Samsung’s Gear VR.

The report does mention that the design and features of this headset haven’t been finalized as yet and could be changed, however, the idea behind this product is that a user should be able to pull the headset out of their bag and watch movies or play VR games on a flight.

Oculus is said to work with Xiaomi to produce this unnamed headset for global distribution. Facebook, Oculus, and Xiaomi have not yet commented on this report so there has been no official confirmation or denial about this so far.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Facebook, oculus, Oculus Rift, Virtual Reality (VR), Xiaomi