Samsung announces new Gear VR headset with a motion controller

Samsung's big announcement for today was the Galaxy Tab S3, but if you happen to be interested in virtual reality, Samsung has anot...

Samsung's big announcement for today was the Galaxy Tab S3, but if you happen to be interested in virtual reality, Samsung has another product to sell to you. Oculus and Samsung have partnered up again to develop an updated Gear VR, this time with a fancy motion controller.

The new Gear VR doesn't look much different from the SM-R323 model, which was released alongside the ill-fated Note 7. But the focus is the Gear VR Controller, which looks an awful lot like an HTC Vive Controller. As you might expect, it can not only sense motion, but also has a touchpad for easy navigation.

Samsung says that over 70 games that use the new controller are in development, and all existing Gear VR titles will work just fine. The updated SDK will be made available to all developers "in a few weeks."

Just like the Note7 Gear VR, this will have a USB Type-C port with an adapter for microUSB. It will be officially compatible with the Galaxy S7/S7edge, Note5, and S6/S6edge/S6edge+. Samsung did not announce pricing, or if the motion controller can be purchased separately for use with existing Gear VR models.

Source