Consumers wishing to step into the world of virtual reality (VR) have two main form factors to choose from. The first is a mobile VR option such as the Samsung’s Gear VR and the recently unveiled Google Daydream. The second is a tethered VR headset such as the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive and the PlayStation VR.
Each form factor has its pros and cons.
For mobile VR headsets, the advantages rest on the ease with which users can set up and operate the devices, as well as the cheaper cost to entry. However, these mobile headsets rely on smartphones, so aspects such as visuals, latency, battery life and overall immersion don’t quite live up to their more expensive tethered counterparts.
But while tethered VR headsets undoubtedly provide consumers with a superior overall experience, there is one major obstacle that stands in the way – cost. Sony’s PSVR is the cheapest of the bunch, but will still set consumers back US$400 for just the headset and cables. For $500, consumers can upgrade to a bundle that also includes the required PlayStation Camera and Move controllers. And both of those bundles exclude the obligatory PS4 console at an additional $300 or so.
And remember, this is the cheapest tethered option on the market.
By comparison, Facebook’s Oculus Rift comes in at $600, with the HTC Vive weighing in at $800. Motion controllers for the Oculus Rift will set you back an additional $200 each, while both of these options also need to be tethered to incredibly powerful PCs that will cost users anything from $500 to upwards of $1,000, depending on the headset requirements.
Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014, and at this year’s Oculus Connect 3 conference in San Jose, California in the first week of October, Mark Zuckerberg repeated his desire to make VR the next major computing platform.
But for that to happen, consumers not only need to be won over in terms of content and price, but also by the range of form factors on offer. Right now, consumers craving a more immersive experience than a mobile VR headset only really have the tethered option to turn to. But that hopefully won’t be the case for much longer.
That’s because at the Oculus Connect 3 conference, Mr Zuckerberg took the wraps off a concept standalone VR headset. Known as Santa Cruz for now, Mr Zuckerberg sees this new device sitting somewhere between the market’s existing mobile and tethered offerings. Crucially, it will offer positional tracking and computing hardware that is built into the back of the headset.
This is the form factor that the market has been waiting for. Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headset already has all the computing power built into the device and doesn’t require any additional wires to be connected to an expensive PC. But this is new ground for VR. And while the introduction of a standalone VR headset won’t guarantee a home run for Oculus, it is certainly a swing in the right direction.
Securing a position of dominance is certainly going to be extremely tough, with Oculus facing challengers on all fronts. In the mobile VR space, its Gear VR partnership with Samsung faces stiff competition from Google’s recently unveiled Daydream headset and platform. And in the tethered space, Sony’s newly released PSVR looks set to take a hefty lead over the Rift, thanks in large part to its lower prices and installed base of more than 40 million-plus PS4 consoles.
Things are developing extremely quickly in the world of VR, and while Oculus may be on the right track with its future mobile VR offering, success seems less likely for the tethered Rift. With consumers valuing ease of use and accessibility as the most important factors, the next generation of powerful VR headsets will be wireless standalone devices that share much more in common with the Santa Cruz concept than with the Rift.
Saad Elkhadem is a senior research analyst at IDC
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