Many of the headlines about last week’s Mobile World Congress — the world’s biggest mobile technology event — weren’t about smartphones, as many would’ve expected. They were about virtual reality.
Excitement about VR has been building for several years. Last year, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) unveiled its top secret HoloLens, Sony Corp (ADR) (SNE) confirmed the PlayStation VR and Samsung Electronic (SSNLF) released the Galaxy-powered Gear VR.
In 2014, one of the big tech industry blockbusters was Facebook Inc’s (FB) $2 billion acquisition of virtual reality pioneer Oculus, while Alphabet Inc’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google offered an ultra low-cost entry with the DIY Google Cardboard VR kit.
All of the technology and hype reached a new level at MWC 2016. Normally this event is all about smartphones, but this year virtual reality was everywhere, including Samsung’s Unpacked keynote.
A headline from CNET neatly summed up this year’s Mobile World Congress: “They came for phones, but VR swept them off their feet.”
For the first time, in 2016 many of the top virtual reality headsets will be commercially available and fight for consumer dollars. No more concepts and demos; they’re ready for prime time.
Here are five of the top contenders — not including Sony, whose PlayStation VR is promised for 2016, but has no official release date or price as yet.
Virtual Reality 2016 Showdown: Oculus Rift
Without a doubt, the most highly anticipated VR headset of 2016 is Facebook’s Oculus Rift.
The Oculus Rift has been a popular attraction for the past few years at CES, and under the ownership of Facebook, it’s ready for its public debut.
Among the Rift’s advantages are its growing library of VR games and specialized game controllers. However, the downside is a price tag that caught many off guard. Consumers will be paying double what developer kits had cost — and the hardware requires a high end PC, meaning many potential buyers might also need to drop $1,000 or more on a new computer if they want to experience virtual reality.
Oculus Rift is currently available for pre-order and goes on sale in July for $599.
Virtual Reality 2016 Showdown: Samsung Gear VR
Samsung is betting on virtual reality in a big way for 2016.
At MWC 2016, the company unveiled the new Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone, but also showed off the new Gear VR camera and brought Mark Zuckerberg on stage to talk up virtual reality.
The Gear VR is priced at $99.99, making it more affordable than many options. That’s because it relies on a Samsung smartphone — inserted into the headpiece — to provide the display and most of the brains. Despite the price, it’s a full-featured VR headset, developed in partnership with Oculus and able to play virtual reality games purchased from the Oculus Store.
Samsung’s Gear VR headset was released last fall, but Samsung is really pushing it for 2016. In fact, if you pre-order a new Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, Samsung is throwing in the Gear VR for free.
Virtual Reality 2016 Showdown: HTC Vive
HTC Corp’s Vive has been raising new expectations for virtual reality, starting 2016 off with multiple awards at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
HTC let Oculus go first on pricing, which was probably a smart move given that the Vive is priced even higher.
However, for its $799 price tag, the HTC Vive does offer additional functionality compared to the competition.
HTC describes it as “fully immersive VR” that uses a front-facing camera to allow the wearer to switch to a real-world view without having to take off the headgear. That same camera and sensors help to prevent someone wearing the HTC Vive from experiencing a real-life collision with walls or furniture while wandering around the room in the middle of a VR adventure.
Vive started pre-order on Feb. 29, with retail availability in April, and sold 15,000 units within its first 10 minutes of sale.
Virtual Reality 2016 Showdown: Razer OSVR
Google did a pretty decent job of dominating the mobile phone market by giving away its Android operating system.
Razer — a company best known for selling high-end gaming PCs and peripherals — is trying for a similar play with the Razer OSVR. The acronym stands for Open Source Virtual Reality, an open source software platform Razer’s CEO calls “the Android of virtual reality.”
Naturally, Razer is selling its own hardware and if you’re willing to shell out for a developer kit, you can pick up a Razer OSVR now for $300. That’s $100 more than Razer was promising last year, but Digital Trends tried it out and declared the OSVR delivers “twice the Rift at half the price.”
The Razer OSVR has been flying under the radar, but the headset is impressive and the platform is rapidly improving thanks to its open source nature. The hardware is also modular and can be upgraded by users, so its components can be swapped out for better ones as they are developed.
Razer also says the OSVR runs on a mid-tier PC, so computer upgrades should be less of an issue compared to other virtual reality headsets.
Virtual Reality 2016 Showdown: Google Cardboard
What many people assumed was a stunt — handing out free cardboard VR headsets (smartphone required) to conference attendees — has actually evolved into a thriving virtual reality platform.
Google Cardboard showed that experiencing virtual reality doesn’t necessarily require investing in expensive new hardware. Your existing smartphone and a viewer you literally assemble yourself using cardboard is good enough.
An updated version of the Google Cardboard hardware is available for $19.99, but Google will also let you download a template to fold and cut your own — for free!
Virtual reality applications supporting Google Cardboard are available for Android and iOS (over 1,000 have been released to date) and the company has encouraged third party manufacturers to join in. Toymaker Mattel, Inc. (MAT) even offers a Google Cardboard-compatible version of its iconic View-Master.
Google Cardboard may not be the most impressive looking piece of virtual reality technology, but with over 5 million units shipped, it’s currently the most widely adopted. We’ll see if it can hold onto that lead through 2016 as competition like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive finally hit store shelves.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
