Report: Samsung's future VR solutions might not require a phone at all

Virtual reality is really just starting to gain momentum among consumers and interest is expected to expand dramatically next year as commercial products from HTC, Sony, and Oculus hit store shelves. It is becoming increasingly obvious that VR is “the next big thing”. With that in mind, a new rumor out of South Korea suggests that Samsung will be making a bigger push into VR next year with a stand-alone solution.

Samsung, through partnership with Oculus, has already brought the world two versions of its Gear VR headset but the requirement of select Samsung phones certainly limits the devices’ appeal. The new report doesn’t give us any real details about what to expect from Samsung, other than we could be looking at dedicated headsets that no longer use a phone’s brains and display to operate. Whether such a device would still use the Gear VR branding remains unclear. It’s also uncertain if Samsung would take an Oculus-like approach an require a PC, or if the headset would be completely self-contained.

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A self-contained experience that uses mobile chips and other tech would allow Samsung to keep pricing down and would also expand mainstream appeal, as anyone could buy one without the need for a Samsung phone or a high-end PC. It could potentially give Tizen another home outside of the Gear watch family. Of course, that’s all really just speculation on our part.

The Oculus Connect 2 event is scheduled to start tomorrow and last until the 25th, and during that time we could hear at least a little about Samsung’s plans. After all, Oculus and Samsung are partners and so it would make sense that any future plans would continue to be tied to Oculus technology to at least some degree.What do you think, if Samsung could produce a completely stand-alone VR solution, would you be interested? How much would you be willing to pay for such a product? Let us know what you think in the comments below.