Lenovo Mirage Solo, the Google Daydream standalone VR headset, just passed an important milestone that could mean commercialization in mainland China isn’t far away.
As reported by Yivian (Chinese), the Mirage Solo seems to have passed the country’s 3C certification, or the Chinese Compulsory Certificate (CCC), a process similar to Europe’s CE product certification scheme.
If released, this will mark the first time the headset will be officially available in mainland China. The Mirage Solo is already currently available in the special economic and administrative zones of Hong Kong for HK $3,200 (~$400) and Taiwan for NT $15,000 (~$480).
Launched back in May for $400 USD in nearly every market but China, the suspected Mirage Solo for China predictably doesn’t have a price yet, however Taiwan maintains a similar value-added tax (VAT) percentage as the mainland, which could mean we’ll see similar pricing there.
The 3C certification, as shown by Yivian, denotes the headset’s product marking VR-1541F, the same model number specified for both the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.
Google originally tapped both Lenovo and HTC to produce standalone VR headsets for the Daydream platform, although HTC pulled out later in favor of launching the HTC Vive Focus with their own branded mobile VR app store, dubbed Viveport M. Both headsets feature inside-out 6DOF positional tracking and a single 3DOF controller—a move originally conceived by Google as a way to offer prospective users a choice of hardware much like Microsoft did with their multi-brand Windows VR headsets.
It’s uncertain what app store the Chinese Mirage Solo will run. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has however recently stated that the company is currently exploring a censored China search app, leaving open the possibility that the Daydream platform could finally enter the country.
As for the Vive Focus, HTC told us at Mobile World Congress 2018 that the Vive Focus would be launching internationally sometime in 2018. To boot, Vive Focus developer kits have been released internationally since March 2018 with the intention of entering western markets running Viveport M.
While it’s impossible to infer either company’s true intentions behind the cross-market productization of their respective headsets, one thing is becoming very clear: Google is trying its damnedest to finally break through the Great Firewall, the same barrier that HTC Vive Focus has benefited from these past few months.