No Huawei VR headset price was announced, but the Chinese company did say it’ll definitely launch in 2016 and likely “this season”. The device isn’t a rumor though, and apparently operates in the same way as Samsung’s Gear VR, where a phone is used as the display.
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The headset only works with the Huawei P9, Huawei P9 Plus and the Huawei Mate 8.
Huawei has been rumored to be getting into VR for a long time, so while today’s announcement isn’t exactly surprising or groundbreaking, it gives us a clearer picture of what it’s trying to achieve. This comes hot on the heels of the Chinese company’s introduction of its latest P9 and P9 Plus smartphones, and you might guess, this headset is fully compatible with them. The rest of the specs are similar to what you’ll find on the Gear VR with a 95-degree field of view, adjustable lenses, and a touchpad on the side for navigation. And while HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are powerful headsets, devices like the Huawei VR and Samsung Gear VR are more accessible for most folks because they don’t require a high-powered gaming PC to use. To date, VR headsets have been pairing their content with traditional audio, which bombards both ears with the same sound no matter where your head is facing. The P9 is the first smartphone co-engineered with Leica, a german company that builds powerful optics for cameras.
To get users onboard their VR platform instead of the competition, Huawei is offering 4,000 free movies and over 40 free games, although it is not mentioned how many of these would be for the VR experience. Hardware specs include a 1080p display, a 3,000mAh battery, and the Kirin 955 2.5GHz 64-bit ARM-based processor.
Images via official Huawei Weibo account.
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Last year, Huawei became the world’s third largest smartphone manufacturer, by selling 108 million smartphones.
