A surprise announcement was made by Facebook-owned Oculus’s VP head of VR, Hugo Barra about two brand new headsets that are both much more affordable and will have high-end hardware installed. To make this possible, Oculus has teamed up with Xiaomi to create the Oculus Go and Mi VR standalone headsets. The announcement was made during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018, and seems to have been well received by the public.
The two headsets Oculus GO and Mi VR standalone are being made by Xiaomi which is China’s biggest smartphone maker.
Both headsets have similar specs, but the Mi VR standalone is specifically designed for use in China, where as the Oculus Go will be available to users all over the world. The estimated price for the Oculus Go will be $199 which is approximately Rs 12,659.
Both headsets will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 system with WQHD LED screen and “Next Generation” lenses. Apart from this the two companies aren’t revealing much about the hardware used in the headsets. At the moment no specific date has been announced for the release or changes in the price since the initial announcement made in 2017, but we do anticipate a reveal regarding the same from either of the companies.
Another interesting feature is that neither the Oculus Go nor the Mi VR will require access to a computer or phone for them to function. Since it’s a standalone device, it may have the capacity to run any VR game or application and in most cases it’s a cheaper option compared to the well known Samsung Gear VR and others.