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Virtual reality is literally all the rage at the moment. While this time last year, the platform seemed early in its development, since then, the platform has grown quite significantly with a number of new entries coming through. Not to mention a number of new entries on their way too. For instance, HTC have been gaining much momentum with their HTC Vive, which is due to become available soon and looks to offer an unrivaled experience. However the one consistent theme with the likes of the HTC Vive and others is their higher price points.
In fact, Samsung were one of the early adopters of the platform and brought to market the Gear VR. Although, that was also quite steeply priced at launch and came with the extra annoyance of only being compatible with the Galaxy Note 4. More recently, rumors have been circulating that Samsung were planning on releasing a new VR unit and one which might come in at a more affordable price point. The latest of which only came through yesterday. Well, that is exactly what they have just announced.
The new virtual reality offering from Samsung comes in conjunction with Oculus and will be another Gear VR device. That said, there are some notable differences. The first and possibly most important is that the new Gear VR will only cost $99 at launch. Which is considerably less than the previous Gear VR. Secondly, the compatibility of the new Gear VR will be much wider and will work with any Samsung smartphone from 2015. Although, it does seem to only work with Samsung smartphones. Thirdly, this one is reported to be arriving before Black Friday and will begin shipping in November. At least, in the U.S. There was no firm detail about the international availability, although it is said, it will become available elsewhere shortly afterwards.
At the moment, further details are still somewhat limited but the idea of a wider compatible VR unit which will come in below the $100 marker and with Samsung’s name on it, does seem to be one which will attract attention and sales going forward and especially in the run up to the holiday season.