Jordan O'BrienSamsung confirmed that it was working on a new standalone virtual reality headset at its developer conference back in April, but new details suggest that it could take on the likes of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
It may not sound like a big deal that Samsung is gearing up to take on Oculus, but it’s Oculus that supplies the technology for the Gear VR – the virtual reality headset that utilises Samsung Galaxy smartphones as the viewer. Of course Samsung could still be partnering with Oculus, but little details have been revealed thus far.
What is known is that the device is likely to be called ‘Odyssey’ with Samsung registering the trademark and a logo, which conveniently includes ‘VR’ in stylised letters.
The description of the trademark suggests that Samsung is working on a ‘virtual reality game headset’ and ‘virtual reality game software’. Whether or not it will compete in terms of specs against the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive remains to be seen however, it could be that Samsung wants to offer a low-cost alternative to the current big players.
Samsung has an event planned on August 2 for the expected announcement of the Galaxy Note 7, it’s believed that Samsung could use that same event to reveal its virtual reality headset as well. It would follow the company’s history, having unveiled the Gear VR alongside the Galaxy Note 4 at IFA 2014.
Virtual reality is widely expected to be the next frontier in content consumption with every major player reportedly planning to get involved. Facebook is currently the biggest player in the industry through its acquisition of Oculus, but Google and Microsoft are also experimenting on different technologies they both plan to bring to market.
