Facebook to Unveil $200 Standalone Oculus VR Headset for 2018

Facebook’s Oculus is reportedly in the early stages of developing a standalone VR headset, which could be used to watch a movie on a plane.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that Oculus is seeking to expand to stand-alone devices, setting it apart from existing offerings necessitating a smartphone like Google Daydream or Samsung Gear VR. The report notes that the device will be driven by a Snapdragon processor of some sort, and will hit $200 price point at some point in 2018.

The device allegedly is code-named “Pacific” and on the exterior resembles a compact version of the Oculus Rift. It will feature Oculus branding in most of the world. The first iteration of the technology is not expected to include positional tracking, but it is allegedly on the road map for the future.

In October, Facebook CEO claimed that it had plans for a similar device, to attempt to take the technology main-stream. Zuckerberg said:

“We all know where we want to improve and where we want virtual reality to eventually get—It’s this feeling of real presence. We want hardware that’s a lighter form factor and smaller, that can do both VR and AR, that can do eye tracing and mouth tracking and hand tracking.”

If Facebook can pull off this device at the $200 price point, it can definitely make significant headway in the market. HTC and Lenovo are expected to rollout standalone headsets with Google’s Daydream OS for release in 2017.

Apple’s ARKit will ship with iOS 11 in the fall and will instantaneously make iOS the largest AR platform.

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