Virtual reality and augmented reality seem to be all the rage at the moment, playing second banana in the tech world only to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Despite the huge craze, even driving some makers to create high-spec gaming computers that fit in a backpack to allow free-moving home VR, there are still a good number of OEMs out there who have yet to hop on the bandwagon. Among them is ASUS, who has yet to put out any VR or AR products, but has dropped a few hints in the past. At the ASUS press event during the recent Computex conference, VR headsets were spotted, but not really talked about. An AR product, however, was talked about and reportedly, it’s been delayed.
At the conference, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen spoke to CNET and stating that a “very big player” had asked them to delay their AR hardware, though he didn’t name anyone in particular. The AR gear was originally slated to have at least some presence at Computex, but will now instead see the light of day at CES in January of 2017. Rumors peg the hardware as being a set of glasses or a small headset that allows the user to see what’s in front of them, but with AR content superimposed. Rumor also has it that the VR hardware spotted at Computex will be debuting at CES alongside the AR contraption.
With any possible leaps into the VR and AR spaces pushed back and not much else announced in those areas, nobody really knows what ASUS may have up their sleeve or when they’re planning to lay it down, aside from the slated announcements at CES 2017. On other fronts, ASUS is working on a follow-up to the stellar ZenFone 2, cranking out versions of NVIDIA’s newest graphics cards that actually beat out the reference models and, of course, continuing work on their line of high-end Republic of Gamers computers and gear. Besides those ventures, ASUS does not appear to be dipping any toes into the VR ocean at the moment, but appearances can always be deceiving. With ASUS holding off at the request of somebody with a lot of pull in the field, only time will tell what other secrets they may have waiting to whip eager fans into a frenzy.