Samsung have been one of the more active companies on the virtual reality market, and their development of the Gear VR headset has attracted a lot of attention to the company by VR enthusiasts. While most eyes are still on the Oculus Rift (now owned and developed by Facebook), Samsung’s own Gear VR seems to have a lot of potential, and is slowly but steadily building up a crowd of followers. It’s been recently rumored that the headset may only work with the Galaxy Note 4, much to the disappointment of many who were eager to get their hands on it – but now the rumors have changed, as new reports have surfaced that added a few more devices to the list.
Namely, the upcoming Galaxy S6 is reported to come with native support for the Gear VR, along with the Galaxy S Edge. The S6 is expected to be announced during the Mobile World Congress 2015, which will happen in the first week of March – and reports indicate that the device will be ready for use with the Gear VR.
Samsung’s product has a different approach to the design of a VR headset than others, as the device relies on a mobile phone for its functionality. It works by holding up the phone in front of the user’s eyes and using it as a screen for the goggles, along with customized software that transforms it into the ultimate tool for a complete, portable VR experience.
The Galaxy Note Edge has already been confirmed to not work with the Gear VR, but on the other hand, the Galaxy S Edge – which is still just a rumor – will be supported. With the Quad HD display that the Galaxy S Edge will supposedly have, it should be a great choice for the headset. A solid VR experience would most likely rely strongly on a good resolution, so it would be important to use a quality phone for the purpose.
So far, the lineup is still rather small, and Samsung will have to make a really good offer if they want to attract people to the Gear VR. There have been rumors that the company is looking to improve the device’s compatibility with their older products, but until that happens, it might be released as a very niche product with questionable potential for a wide market reach. On the other hand, there are plenty of enthusiasts on the VR market who will likely readily eat up anything new that’s released in this area, so Samsung may not have to put much effort into broadening the line of supported devices before they release the Gear VR.