This looks to be a rather interesting partnership if I’ve ever seen one. Samsung and Oculus are reportedly working together for their own virtual reality headsets by using each other’s resources. A report from Engadget claims that Samsung wants to get a version of its VR headset to the markets before a consumer version of Oculus’s is ready.
Samsung apparently is using Oculus Rift’s software development kits as a baseline for their upcoming headset, while they are adding their own software user interface to it. It’s said that Samsung struck a deal with Oculus to get exclusive access to an early version of the software.
Meanwhile, Oculus will be supplied Samsung’s new “next-gen, high-pixel density OLED screens” that are reportedly higher than 1080p resolution.
Both of these tech companies will be using each other’s key technologies behind each of their own headset, however they might not actually end up competing directly. The Oculus Rift headset is built for gamers and to expand upon what a video game can do, while Samsung’s headset will be meant for a wider range of entertainment and professional use, much like Google Glass.
A key difference between both products is that Samsung’s VR headset will not feature a dedicated display, but will instead use your smartphone’s display. Just plug in your phone to the VR headset, most likely by micro USB, and then use the display as the screen for the headset. The early developer handsets are apparently running a Galaxy S4 as the screen.
So far nothing is official, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard Samsung is working on it’s own headset. It is interesting to see these kinds of partnerships though, and I’m excited to see where this goes and how Samsung’s headset will potentially compete with Google’s. Would you guys be willing to see what Samsung has up its sleeve before trying out Google Glass?