Back on May 22nd we found out that Samsung was looking to branch out a little bit and that they were going to begin developing a VR headset for use with their smartphones for games and such. Their reported goal was that they wanted to come out ahead of now Facebook owned Oculus and their Rift headset, and Sony with their Project Morpheus VR headset slated for use with the PS4. By come out ahead we mean that it seemed their intentions were to release their headset ahead of Sony and Oculus, and bring it in under their price points to beat them on cost. Seems like a good idea from a business standpoint. You have two companies who logically seem like they might be able to produce a better VR product simply because one’s sole existence is based off the creation of a new VR headset, and one has been heavily invested in the video game industry for decades.
Naturally it would be Samsung’s best option if they wanted to reach better sales and become the more popular of the three VR headsets once they all hit market. Release first, charge less. We’re finding out now though that Samsung apparently isn’t planning to work against Oculus and their Rift VR headset, but with them to create something thought to be specifically for Samsung’s products. This is a little bit of a shock since the Oculus Rift would most likely be a direct competitor to whatever Samsung would produce, but according to sources of engadget both Samsung and Oculus stand to gain something out of this partnership.
Samsung reportedly will be providing Oculus with high grade OLED displays for the Rift headset while Oculus will apparently handle the software side of things for Samsung. In fact, Samsung’s VR device isn’t going to have a display at all like the Rift, so they’ll be targeting different groups of consumers. Samsung’s VR device reportedly connects to your smartphone and uses it’s display for the VR functions. It’s unclear how exactly that would look, but it all sounds very interesting. What’s more, is that Samsung is said to be putting focus of the headsets functionality to be used with media playback more than games. Gamepad support is said to have compatibility but since games aren’t meant to be its main function, voice and touch navigation are the main ways one might control the device. As we reported before, the VR from Sammy will probably only end up as Galaxy device compatible, so if you wanted to play VR games or media on a non-Samsung device, that isn’t likely to happen.