Adding a heaping load of fuel to the rumors that Samsung and Oculus VR are working closely together, it turns out that every Oculus Rift DK2 contains a significant part of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 smartphone.
Living within the Oculus Rift DK2 like an endosymbiont is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s 1080p display, including the touchscreen driver, revealed by an iFixit teardown of the new VR headset.
It’s been rumored for some time now that Oculus VR and Samsung were working closely together on a VR smartphone adapter to be announced by Samsung in September. Rumor has it that the relationship between the two companies involves Oculus sharing its VR experience and heretofore unreleased Android SDK while Samsung shares its high density displays.
See Also: Samsung ‘Gear VR’ Smartphone Adapter Rumored to be Announced in September at IFA 2014
And while that seemed fairly logical, we certainly didn’t expect to see the entire touchscreen from the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 contained within the Oculus Rift DK2. In my past years of covering the smartphone market, I’ve never seen the screen, including the bezel, of one device embedded inside of another. This leads me to believe that Samsung and Oculus are working very closely together and opted to make use of either existing an existing manufacturing line or some leftover touchscreen stock. I don’t think we’d see this kind of deal made with Samsung’s ‘typical’ display customers.
Beyond this interesting revelation, the iFixit teardown has plenty of excellent photos of the Oculus Rift DK2’s inner workings. Definitely worth checking out!