Google May Release New VR Headset This Year
Google is reportedly planning to release a successor to the Google Cardboard in the form of a new virtual reality (VR) headset for smartphones this year.
The tech giant is planning to take on Samsung's Gear VR by releasing a new and improved VR headset with added Android OS support sometime this year. The upcoming device will come after the cheap and fun mobile VR viewer Google Cardboard, which was launched in 2014, according to The Financial Times.
Aside from ditching the cardboard casing, the next Google VR headset will be enclosed by a more solid plastic casing. Insiders also revealed that it will have better sensors and lenses, The Verge reports.
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The upcoming Google VR headset will also borrow the idea of using a smartphone inserted into the device for its display and processing power. The Gear VR is only compatible with a limited number of Samsung Galaxy smartphones, but Google's new device will work with a wider range of Android devices, the report relays.
While Google has remained mum on the new VR headset, the company's chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said last week that Cardboard was only part of their initial VR plans.
"Beyond these early efforts, you'll see a lot more from us and our partners in 2016," said Pichai during an earnings call for Alphabet, the parent firm of Google.
Meanwhile, Google is also rumored to be stepping beyond Cardboard's self-contained app by developing its own Android VR operating system. Talks about the initiative surfaced last month after the tech giant posted job vacancies for virtual reality projects, the report details.
As of now, details on Google's new VR headset and the Android VR OS are still scant, but more information is expected to come up in the next few months. The firm could pair it with the Project Tango, which scans and tracks real-life environments, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
