Rumors Spread of a Samsung Mobile VR Headset

Rumors are circulating around the interweb that Samsung and the new Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will be partnering up to bring a VR system to your cell phone.

Unlike most of my unverified stories, my source for this particular rumor isn’t the maddening whispers of the phantasms that visit me during my episodic bouts of night terrors.  Rather, we get this particular rumor from  Engadget, who claims to have spoken to sources both inside Oculus Rift and Samsung who claim that the two companies want to produce a series of VR headsets exclusively for Samsung.

Here’s how it’ll work, in theory: the headset will connect to any compatible phone (likely manufactured by Samsung) through a port like a Micro UPS, and it will project the cell phone’s screen onto the headset.  At the very least, the gadget will have a accelerometer, but there will likely be other things attached and built-in for easy control over the system.

While it’s said that they want to use the VR headset for things like apps and games, that’s not the real focus of the VR headset: rather, it seems they really want to design this system for phones with rear-facing cameras, so the VR headset can provide a live feed from said camera.

...which seems useless at first (why would you need a VR to see out of the camera of the phone you’re holding) until you remember or realize they’re probably going to let you see out of OTHER cameras—like your brother's or girlfriend's or whatever.

According to sources, the headsets, despite being in development are “a shockingly good experience”.

Apparently, this whole thing started as a tech swap between the two companies.  Samsung wanted Oculus Rift software to help with VR development, and Oculus Rift wanted next-gen OLED screens for the final version of the Oculus Rift.  I suppose, if the rumor is to be believed, those talks escalated to a full-on collaboration.

Unsurprisingly, Samsun nor Facebook nor Oculus commented on these rumors.