Phone virtual reality (VR) had been creating a buzz from the past 4 to 5 years. Ever since those VR headsets were introduced, everybody was going gaga over them and wanted to try them out instantly. Technology consulting firms were using VR technology to add value to their marketing strategy to attract their customers. People were buying VR headsets all around the globe to experience an entirely new world. However, over time, all that hype has been reduced to a greater extent. The innovation in this domain is gradually overshadowing the phone VR, as we knew it. Here is everything you need to know about why VR headsets are no more in trend and what to expect from the upcoming years.
Why is Phone VR Dead?
The virtual reality headsets gave many people a chance to experience the VR technology quite conveniently, but according to Oculus CTO Johan Carmack, ‘its days were numbered’. Google has recently announced the discontinuation of daydream VR, and the app won’t even work on the new phones. Once considered to be an integral part of android phones, the era Daydream VR is officially over.
According to Google authorities, their decision was majorly driven by two main factors:
People weren’t willing to let go their smartphones from their hand while using them in their VR headsets
Furthermore, neither consumers nor developer were ready to leap of faith into this new tech venture
A significant decline was seen in the adoption of the technology that led Google to put an end to phone VR officially. Moreover, another major problem was that phone that makers weren’t supporting it either. Initially, Google announced several partners like Samsung, HTC, and LG, but many mobile phones didn’t help the Daydream tech by not meeting the display standards. According to Carmack, the virtual reality headsets drain your phone’s battery!
Phone VR wasn’t found to be as exciting and intense as other VRs were such as PlayStation, Oculus Rift, or HTC Vive. Likewise, it was challenging to make cinematic VR videos. Therefore, production companies shifted their focus to augmented reality. Therefore, Google has backed from any further production of phone VR gears or applications.
What Does the Future Hold?
The future of phone VR is still uncertain. Google has given up on it, but there is still a rift going on between companies like Samsung and Oculus Rift. The production of VR headsets and the smartphones that offer a seamless VR experience to the user is still in process. Samsung aims to modify its gear VR and keep it in the market. The virtual reality is still new to the users, and not everyone has got a chance to see their smartphones turn into some virtual wonderland.
The applications of virtual reality are what is helping the tech to survive in the market. Gaming always tops this list, while recently Oculus has released a short film about a dog and a robot. One of the major factors upon which the future of phone VR depends is the usage and applications of the technology itself.
Conclusion:
Technology is crazy and unpredictable. You can never really be sure if something is going to become a necessity for life. Or if it is going to fizzle away as its usage dies just like those fancy Bluetooth devices that we used to attach to our desktop computers a few decades back. So, there is an excellent chance that we will be using a VR headset to watch movies or play games, or they might be used on a broader scale for robotic surgeries or mock military missions. The awareness about the usage of phone VR outside the community of avid tech users is deficient, and that is what is majorly making its future ambiguous to us all.
It is more like a ‘wait and watch’ situation when we talk about the future of phone virtual reality. The unpredictable user response is still threatening the idea of VR headsets as a commonly used gear. Just like any other technology or innovative gadget, phone VR needs to stay in the market to get its true potential to be revealed and explored.
