360-degree cameras are one of the hottest things in the consumer technology space right now, what with anything and everything related to virtual reality eliciting a lot of interest from media and consumers alike. With a marked increase in interest in cameras able to natively shoot panoramic images without having to stitch them up later with the help of software, South Korean consumer electronics giants LG and Samsung both announced their respective 360-degree cameras at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show held earlier this year in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Neither company, however, had revealed anything about the pricing or availability of the devices at that stage, but the LG 360 Cam has since been put on the market for around $199 on a number of e-commerce sites.
Now it is the turn of Samsung to officially announce that its offering in the VR camera space will come with a price-tag of $349 in the U.S. once it is available for purchase in the country. Interestingly, the device was already listed on B&H Photo Video at $349.99 back in April, although, it was said to be ‘Out of Stock’ at that point in time. The Gear 360 went on sale in South Korea later that month for 399,300 Korean Won ($347). Curiously, though, the company has not yet said anything about when retailers will finally start stocking the product, so it could still potentially take a while longer before consumers can lay their hands on it. The only thing Samsung has mentioned in its press release is that the Gear 360 “will be available for purchase on a limited basis during VidCon in Anaheim, California” this week.
Meanwhile, the Gear 360 is not the only thing Samsung has on its mind right now. The company earlier today announced that it is rebranding its ‘Milk VR’ platform to ‘Samsung VR’, and adding user-generated content to the mix. The company is also believed to be working on the next-generation Note-series smartphone that is expected to be named the Galaxy Note 7 to align it with the company’s popular Galaxy S line even though this will only be the company’s sixth-generation flagship phablet.