Oculus’ next step? A $200, untracked wireless headset for next year [Updated]
Report suggests mobile units will be lighter, more powerful than Gear VR.
[Update: An Oculus representative provided Ars with the following statement: “We don't have a product to unveil at this time; however, we can confirm that we're making several significant technology investments in the standalone VR category. This is in addition to our commitment to high-end VR products like Oculus Rift and mobile phone products like Gear VR."]
Original Story
Oculus is working on a $200 standalone headset that will serve as a bridge between the mobile-phone-based VR holsters like Samsung's Gear VR and PC-tethered high-end VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, according to a new report from Bloomberg. According to the report, the headset, codenamed Pacific, is set to launch in 2018 and will be shown to developers in October, which is when Oculus holds its annual Connect conference.
Bloomberg cites "people familiar with its development" in reporting that the Pacific headset will be powered by a mobile Snapdragon processor and be "more powerful" than the mobile-phone-based Gear VR. The standalone device "resembles a more compact version of the Rift and will be lighter than Samsung’s Gear VR headset," according to the report. The latest Gear VR weighs just 11.4 ounces, though the Samsung phones used to power the display and tracking add a few more ounces to the weight.
Much like the Gear VR, the Pacific headset will only track the directions users are looking, and it won't track the user's motion through space. A "future version" will include that full tracking capability, according to the report. Hand-tracking won't be built-in on the unit either, according to the report, with a Gear VR-style tilt-sensitive Remote used for interactions.
At Oculus Connect last year, the company showcased a prototype wireless version of the Rift that used "inside-out" tracking embedded in the unit itself rather than tracking via cameras connected to a tethered PC. At that conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that kind of tracking is "one of the toughest problems in computer science... We have a demo, but we don't have a product yet. This is the kind of thing we believe will exist... a completely new category of virtual reality product."
"We want hardware that's lighter form factor," Zuckerberg added at the conference keynote last year. "That's smaller, that can do both VR and AR, that can do eye tracking, hand tracking."
A new middle ground?
A lower-powered, lower-priced wireless headset could be a good way for Oculus to jumpstart interest in its technology. While analysts estimate Samsung has shipped millions of its relatively cheap Gear VR headsets (many through free giveaways with Galaxy phone pre-orders) estimates for Oculus Rift sales still number in the low hundreds of thousands over a year after its launch.
Oculus recently lowered the price of the Rift and Touch controllers for the second time this year. The bundle is now selling for half the price that it did just five months ago. This could suggest Oculus is having trouble convincing people to pay a premium price for its premium product.
Oculus' own wireless headset could leverage the company's existing relationship with Samsung, which uses Oculus technology to help power the wireless Gear VR. It's not hard to imagine Oculus' existing mobile storefront, built with Gear VR titles in mind, could be easily adapted to provide an existing base of content that would also work on the company's own standalone headset.
Standalone wireless headsets seem to be the current hot ticket in the still-burgeoning field of VR headsets. Google announced in May that it was working on its own "reference design" for a standalone virtual reality headset, complete with a new camera system that allows for full positional tracking and even augmented reality mapping of complex spaces. HTC and Lenovo were announced as partners to create consumer versions of that design.
Samsung is also reportedly working on its own standalone VR headset, according to recent leaks from third-party developers.