Samsung has announced that there will not be another VR headset with smartphone operation, which is not too surprising.
The report has been expected for a long time. Samsung hasn`t released a new Gear VR with every smartphone anymore and has more or less given it away more or less as a gift, but has recently avoided the topic completely. Unclear statements about how the company has “stayed committed” to the Gear VR platform sounded hollow in the last two commitments, and now it`s clear that the Galaxy Note 10 does not support the headset at all.
Samsung`s experiment with Gear VR is over, but all in all it can be said to be a success.
Everyone wants a Gear VR when itis available for free.
5 years ago everything should be in VR. Analysts had made it the next big thing, and every technology company was trying to figure out how to get into it. Google released Cardboard, Oculus had just caused a huge hype with a successful kickstart campaign, and many people were already talking about the breakthrough of VR.
So of course Samsung had to participate and as is often the case with Samsung, the first version was not very successful.
Released as a developer kit with a grade 4 rating, the Gear VR heated up so much that an active fan in the headset could not solve the problem. This problem could not be completely solved when the system was fully released to the public, but most people did not care because they did not pay for it. To ensure that many customers had immediate access to the platform, Gear VR was usually given to customers free of charge when they bought a high-end smartphone. Millions of VR headsets were sent around the world, often with a loan to buy a few games.
These headsets were not really a Samsung idea. The hardware and software that drives the Samsung Gear VR was entirely powered by Oculus. When you accessed the Gear VR software, the Oculus logo was everywhere. When you bought apps in in the Gear VR ecosystem, Oculus maintained the payment gateway. The Oculus logo was on the headset, right next to the Samsung`s, but it was pretty clear which company really managed the system.
What Samsung was offering was a huge group of users and access to a widespread hardware system. It was convenient for both companies to work together, and the two companies worked quickly to improve the plastic casing that the smartphone would snap into to make it work with any Samsung phone share.
For a couple of years, Samsung did a great job, so it looked like Gear VR would be very popular. Reports of 3.65 million Samsung headsets shipped in 2017 gave the impression that VR headsets are very popular. However, it should be noted that Samsung has generally not charged customers for them. The Gear VR was rather used as an add-on to get customers to buy a Samsung smartphone.
But how many people have used Gear VR on a permanent basis? According to Oculus, over a million people had used Gear VR at least once. That was a large number of people using this innovative technology at the time, but it also meant that only about a third of owners used it regularly. However, Oculus never provided any information about how long or how often these people used the headsets.
With the proliferation of Samsung smartphones, the Gear VR became the best-selling VR headset in the world. In addition, the software improved dramatically during this time. Oculus evolved from being a clumsy plastic bowl for VR video and occasional games to a complete entertainment system supported by your smartphone. Game developers pushed the limits of the headset with sme fantastically unique experiences, and live sports events in VR became a real event thanks to the popularity of the headset. At its peak, the Gear was a truly unique experience unparalleled in the mobile VR world. The almost weekly release of new games and videos was also a major factor in this.
For a brief moment the perceived popularity of the headset grew beyond Samsung. Six flagshps and other areas used Gear VR to create virtual roller coaster experiences. Art exhibitions began to use the headset to offer alternative viewing angles. Samsung and several other companies released several 360-degree cameras to give people a way to quickly create their own content for the platform. By mid-2017, it really seemed that Gear VR was a huge success that people were enjoying using and were willing to pay a reasonable price for.
And then suddenly everything stopped. At Note 10 Samsung already announced that this device would not support Gear VR. Even if you already have the headset, interesting the new smartphone won`t do anything.
The end of Samsung Gear VR.
When Samsung stopped taking about Gear VR in announcements, it was clear that something was wrong. A direct statement that Samsung Gear VR will be discontinued has not yet been made. The whole situation points to a problem regarding Gear VR.
This problem, it turns out, was Oculus` decision to continue with its own project. At the end of 2018, Oculus presented its first stand-alone VR headset, the Oculus Go. This headset had integrated the parts of the smartphone into the headset, so there was no need for a smartphone anymore. In addition, Oculus promised access to the same applications and games as with the Gear VR. At the time, Oculus made it look as if Oculus Go wasn`t there to replace Gear VR, which was always considered important for Oculus. This approach certainly made sense from Oculus` point of view, as many people were actively buying on this problem.
If you take a look at the demos of Galaxy Note 10, it is clear that Samsung now believes that focusing on augmented reality is the right way to go.
But the reality is that Oculus Go has enabled Oculus to achieve much more than was ever possible with Gear VR. Using a full Samsung smartphone, Oculus had to navigate through the clutter of existing background applications, all of which consume valuable system resources and drain the battery. As a dedicated hardware and software setup, the Oculus Go not only did more from a computer perspective, but also offered a richer visual experience at higher frame rates. Although the Oculus Go was significantly less powerful on paper than the Samsung Galaxy S8, it outperformed the smartphone-based VR headset in every respect.
After Oculus Go was released, we heard less and less about support for Gear VR. Neither company made any mention of a new Gear VR, so with the Samsung Galaxy S10, it was not surprising that Gear VR was not mentioned anywhere. Since there will be no official Gear VR support for the Note 10, it can be assumed that Samsung will not be releasing any more Gear VRs.
Samsung`s VR claims, both for Gear VR and for the almost equally inactive Windows Mixed Reality platforms, have been met for the time being. In both situations, Samsung was only the hardware partner and not really involved in those parts of the ecosystem that ended up making the most money. From a distance, therefore, it is not immediately obvious whether Samsung is capable of completing it successfully.
So for the moment, the headset manufacturer continues. If you take a look at the demos of the Galaxy Note 10, you will quickly realise that Samsung will focus more on the topic of augmented reality in the future. It`s another pop-culture event that analysts say will be very popular. Samsung has its own plan and this is all just a snapshot.
But unlike Gear VR, which was drivern by a company with ambitions to push the boundaries and discover something new, Samsung will only take this new wave to the next level.
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