Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed at the annual developers conference of its Oculus division that the company will launch a wireless, standalone virtual reality headset called Oculus Go “early next year”. The USD 199 headset offers “the most accessible VR experience ever… that doesn’t tether you to a PC,” said Zuckerberg, according to Recode. The new device is designed to bridge the gap between existing cheap headsets that turn smartphones into VR players (like Samsung's USD 130 Gear VR) and fixed high-end VR headsets that connect to high-end PCs. Rival HTC is also working on a standalone VR headset together with Google, which is expected to launch later this year.
The Facebook chief executive also took advantage of his appearance at the conference to announce that he eventually wants to get 1 billion people into VR and to permanently cut the price of the company’s flagship Oculus Rift headset by USD 100 to USD 399, the third price cut since the device was launched in February 2016.
