According to a report by Bloomberg, Facebook is working on a wireless, standalone VR headset said to target the $200 price range. Citing “people familiar with its development,” the report reveals the Oculus-branded headset, code named ‘Pacific’, will ship sometime next year.

The headset is said to be more compact than the company’s PC VR headset the Oculus Rift, and lighter than Gear VR, Samsung’s mobile VR headset that accepts a number of flagship Galaxy phone variants including the new S8, S8 Edge and S8 Plus among many others. While the headset is still in its design phase and features aren’t finalized, the report says, there’s no denying the appeal to a high-quality mobile VR experience at such a low price point.

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According to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources, Oculus plans to partner with Xiaomi, one of the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturers, to produce the new Oculus-branded headset for global distribution. A custom variant featuring Xiaomi branding and software will be produced for the Chinese market.

Oculus Rift, image courtesy Oculus

Oculus head Hugo Barra came to the company early this year, working previously as Xiaomi’s Global VP.

A Snapdragon mobile chip from Qualcomm is said to power ‘Pacific’, reporting that its gaming power is “superior to that of the Gear VR,” but will not include positional tracking technology. Bloomberg reports that the new headset will have a similar interface to Gear VR and will be controlled by a wireless remote. Samsung and Oculus co-introduced a Bluetooth controller to the Gear VR mobile platform back in April, consisting of a trackpad, a few buttons, and the ability to sense rotation which allows users to interact with the virtual world using their hand instead of the headset-mounted touchpad.

Oculus provided the following statement to TechCrunch via a spokesperson:

We don’t have a product to unveil at this time, however we can confirm that we’re making several significant technology investments in the standalone VR category. This is in addition to our commitment to high-end VR products like Oculus Rift and mobile phone products like Gear VR

The news comes hot on the heels of Oculus’ recent price drop of the Rift, bringing the headset to $400 including Touch, the platform’s motion controllers.

The story is breaking. We’ll update as more information comes in.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • cj

    “but will not include positional tracking technology”

    Houston, we have a problem.

    Just kidding: for $200 this isn’t bad if the headset processor can run VR apps superior to Gear VR. Does this mean that Oculus is about to jettison the Samsung partnership?

    • Get Schwifty!

      Yeah I think that’s pretty much a given….

    • Mike

      No positional tracking, no deal.

    • Sponge Bob

      strictly speaking without positional tracking it is not a VR

    • Xron

      It means you get a nice device for movies, social apps, for low price.

  • David Herrington

    Who is this even aimed at? Those that wanted a cheap VR experience already have GearVR and Cardboard. Without positional tracking there isn’t any large leap past Gear. What happened to Oculus’ “Santa Cruz” wireless standalone with positional inside-out tracking??

    To me this seems like a step backward from Rift rather than a step forward for Oculus.

    • Flikr

      It’s aimed at people who don’t have a high-end phone by any means, and so can’t even run cardboard. I see people come into the store I work at ready to drop $120+ on gear VR despite having an iPhone 4, and this would be perfect for them.

    • Doctor Bambi

      I thought that at first too, but there are a number of reasons stand alone is the way to go even if it doesn’t have positional tracking. It’s worth noting this device is separate from Santa Cruz which is still very much in development.
      Pacific would be a small step up from GearVR. The most important advantage is that your VR and phone are now separate. No worrying about draining your phone battery and display/optics can be better optimized for VR. This also breaks free of the Samsung only problem. Now it doesn’t matter which phone you get, you can still enjoy the offerings of mobile Oculus Home.

      • Darshan

        Very True Doc your idea plausible
        Facebook may get aggressive on its VR Social App by WIFI Connectivity..And Due to Mass purchase Friendly Device its
        Sure shot to victory if device perform Better to Gear VR at $200

    • Steven Wilson

      Unless positional tracking can be an add on purchase

      • Steven Wilson

        And maybe someone out there is smart enough to realize that phones already have a powerful enough display and wireless video is just a packaging step away.

        The distance between mobile VR and PC VR is wireless video (that the display is allowed to receive).

        • Sponge Bob

          its called video latency

          google it

        • Darshan

          Phones are not good at it… It may included in WIFI 803 ;-)

      • Sponge Bob

        yeah when you buy a condom sex is not included
        that would be an add on purchase :)

        • Darshan

          You know you are about to have sex in first place … that’s why you buy condom

      • Darshan

        Many will buy it in fraction if that’s the case.

    • Sponge Bob

      vaporware it’s called

      • Darshan

        Can be called W.I.P (Work In Progress) too.

    • Darshan

      IT might be aimed at “THOSE Who loved Gear VR by demo from Friends or relatives might tasted Cardboard Grade VR and loved quality of Gear VR, YET CAN”T AFFORD $800 Smart Phone+ $80/100/120 GEAR VR … And its HUGE POPULATION

      Also consider Gear VR – Smart Phone = Good battery life, less interact from Phone Signals, More Quality Experience due to less background phone activity, More consistency being CONSOLE CLASS.

      I can’t see why it can’t WIN.

    • Xron

      You need samsung s8 to have decent gear vr experience, otherwise its overheating… and if it will have 4k screen it will be nice for movies and socials apps.

  • Foreign Devil

    This is purely a product for the Chinese market that Facebook so desperately wants. . despite their main platform being blocked in China. Hell Zuckerberg even learned mandarin and constantly travels to China. . but they still won’t unblock Facebook. What does a guy have to do?!

    • Andrew Jakobs

      “Oculus has plans to enlist China’s Xiaomi and its network of contract manufacturers to produce the new headset for global distribution, people familiar with the arrangement said. The device will feature Oculus branding around the world, except a custom version for China will feature Xiaomi branding and run some Xiaomi software applications, the people said. Hugo Barra, recently put in charge of Oculus’s VR products, was previously a Xiaomi executive. Xiaomi declined to comment”

      that’s info from another report..

      • Darshan

        Calling Hugo Barra was first step to win Xiaomi, Wining deal with Xiaomi is First Step to enter China VR,

        Gear VR quality VR at China Friendly Price is still awaited in China too
        as rest of the world.

        Its intelligent FB move, opening doors of VR to more people. The more interest people have in VR the more progress will be on that front,…
        See examples.. You will find those who are on daily wedges too own Smart Phones.. and we witnessed progress of smartphones.

  • Adrian Meredith

    Sorry but this is DOA, if googles new daydream launches at $200 with full worldscale tracking why on earth would you use this?

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Who says this Oculus headset isn’t based on daydream?

      • Darshan

        Why would they make it based of daydream, They do have their own store… Even on todays date Galaxy S7/6/5 are not DayDream Compatible

        Galaxy S8 announced to be ready still very slow progress on that front ..

        Illogical on FB part to go for DayDream Ready when they already have revenue coming form their own Oculus Store.

        • Xron

          It will be a good device if it wont heat as mad, like gear vr with s6 and s7… You need samsung s8 to have decent gear vr experience… So it might be win win for facebook.
          Though I’m looking for 2nd gen device.
          Hope to see it before 2018 holiday season as palmer said they wont release anything for atleast 12months, it was month or 2 ago.. so they might have something for next summer or autum season.

    • Darshan

      From where did you got that $200 Tag For DAYDREAM STANDALONE???
      Lines below are from

      “Daydream Standalone Headsets to be Priced Similar to Rift and Vive

      By: Scott Hayden
      May 18, 2017”

      Article Read as below… (*from just above picture of VIVE)

      “a Google spokersperson told us. “I would expect the price-point to be
      around the same as you have with the desktop VR headsets today – minus
      the cost of the PC, drilling holes in your wall, and all that kind of
      stuff.”

      You cant expect All in one HMD with “World Sense” Tracking below something like $500

      If it would be $500, Well then no competition here with FB HMD…

  • Paul

    Or, you could just go buy one of these… https://www.pico-interactive.com/goblin

    • Darshan

      Pico Goblin is bad in terms of SOFTWARE they are NOT GOING TO SUPPORT GOOGLE DAYDREAM, they are not specific about gear vr emulation also..

      Good Hardware is Nothing without accompanying software… Buyer Beware

  • MosBen

    The thing that, unfortunately, too many people that hang around this site don’t understand is that most consumers aren’t like us. My parents and most of my friends will never own a beefy gaming machine with a graphics card that costs several hundred dollars. It’s just not going to happen. But my dad got a GearVR for free when he upgraded his phone to a Galaxy 7, and there’s a chance that they’d spend a couple hundred bucks on a standalone headset that improves on it. Now, I don’t think that this specific headset is enough of a jump over the GearVR to get my specific parents interested, but non-gamers that use iPhones or cheap/non-Samsung Android phones might be interested.

    Eventually, all the things that we enthusiasts want out of VR (positional tracking, trackable controllers, wider FOV, foveated rendering, etc.) will come to mobile VR units at ~$200, it’s just a few years off. In the meantime we’ll get this, which is enough for people to play around with VR a bit.

    • Get Schwifty!

      Good post – I have often argued that the early adopter crowd here is not representative of the market for VR as a whole, particularly when it comes to the computer used. I still think the Sony PSVR or something like it where the HMD, controllers, and sensors are packaged with a console style unit connected to a television or pure standalone with limited room scale for around $400-500 with a plethora of software will win the day. If I were Oculus with their software platform would seriously look into something like the much maligned Steam boxes to establish a fully packaged unit one merely has to buy as a set and hook up.

      It’s possible Oculus long term strategy (which goes way beyond gaming) might be to establish a headset for mobile that you can then take home into a full-on VR setup for more capability. Combine this with the “boxed” solution above and I think you would have a winning combination.

  • Sponge Bob

    in 2018 ??? and no positional tracking ???

    I already bought hi-res china made standalone headset for 250 (without positional tracking)

    • Get Schwifty!

      it’s for better mobile use…. Gear partnership is dissolving.

  • flamaest

    I just got my Oculus Rift bundle delivered to my doorstep today. Should I be worried? Is Oculus going to dump the cv1 in the next year?

    • Meow Smith

      I wouldn’t be surprised if 6+ months from news leaks out of CV2s being tested out in the field.

      Just enjoy the CV1 in the mean time then sell it before the CV2 comes out its not like you paid full price for the thing. Oculus will still support the CV1.

    • Get Schwifty!

      No not at all. It and the Vive are both good units, and almost certainly you will be able to buy a better HMD when the time comes and continue to use your sensors and Touch controllers, then switch when Touch 2.0 is released. Keep the old HMD, just imagine all the people who threw out their original Apple systems from the 70’s when the next unit came out… now they go for $1500 or so. Not a King’s ransom, but if you stuck the old HMD in the attic for 30 years you might be surprised what you can get for it in the future.

  • Darshan

    Lets not forget Facebook has grand advantage of understanding trend as its only company in world where people post their dream and liking without giving any financial rewards, or hiding true inner wishes even after paying financial rewards.

    Biggest strength of Facebook is it can read what world as whole want, it can have survey of any product without asking to its user just by measuring post on specific subject and compare it with its total user base.

    Understanding requirement of Quality VR at Mass friendly price is excellent move. Selling Gear VR experiences without buyer need to make $800/900 investment and locking himself/herself to Android and Samsung is even smarter.

    Consider $20 a week Pocket money, Many kids can save from pocket money $200 in year. Now bring those kids on FB VR and future of FB and Oculus Store is rising like sun.

  • WyrdestGeek

    I’m looking forward to standalone VR, but only ones that have some kind of positional tracking.