Neil Hughes
Immersive virtual reality experiences — well beyond what Google Cardboard can offer — are expected to begin arriving on the iPhone, with the aid of new third-party hardware, this fall.
Investment firm Piper Jaffray held a series of virtual reality panels this week including 13 companies in the field. One of them — Â IonVR — indicated they expect to have a VR headset for iPhone launching in the fall of 2016.
Analyst Gene Munster said the IonVR product is expected to be much more advanced than current iPhone-based VR accessories, such as Google Cardboard and Mattel View-Master. He believes those basic products, which use the iPhone's Retina display to simulate VR, do not offer "true VR experiences."
But comments from IonVR at this week's panel suggested that the iPhone can, in fact, do proper VR "with the help of third-party hardware," Munster said. He expects those types of iPhone-connected accessories to begin taking off later this year.
The Idaho-based IonVR has created a proprietary optics system it calls "MotionSync," which it claims will greatly reduce motion sickness when used with mobile devices like Apple's iPhone. Integrated hardware in its headset is also said to offload some processing from the phone, allowing it to last longer, while also simplifying the software development process.
IonVR's product is also modular, meaning parts can be replaced or swapped out as technology advances.
It's currently available for preorder for $229 and is expected to ship soon. But representatives from the company told Munster they expect to offer a headset priced between $100 and $200 launching this fall, suggesting a different product could be in the works.
Munster and Piper Jaffray are bullish on the future of VR, and even claimed last year that Apple has its own team working on augmented reality technology. Last month, Munster predicted that Apple will add ecosystem support for VR to its "Made for iPhone" program within the next two years.
Munster said this week that he believes virtual and augmented reality will prove to be "the next computing paradigm."
In addition to investments from Apple and Google, he also noted that Sony is positioned to help grow VR rapidly, thanks to the existing install base of its PlayStation 4 game console. Its Project Morpheus VR headset is expected to launch this year.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
17 Comments
Mobile VR is not "true" VR like what Sony, Occulus, or HTC (Valve) are bringing out. Motion tracking being one thing that separates the two.
Should still do some cool stuff. iPhone users deserve to be able to get in the game as who knows what Apple is doing with this.
I lik forward to getting my Galaxy S7 Edge and trying some VR stuff on it.
Seriously considerig Sony VR for my PS4 later this year.
I do have a game PC powerful enough to run Occulus Rift or the HTC Vive but thos headsets are not particularly cheap.
Skip ahead 6 years. VR proves to be a niche exclusive to some kinds of gaming. Just as 3D is a niche exclusive to some movies. Gravity is 3D was gimmick-heavy. I firmly believe the 3D-ness of it took from the movie. Source: saw it in the cinema.
I tried Google Cardboard yesterday for the first time. It's the first and only "VR" technology I have tried. I had ordered an $8 kit and finally decided to use it with my iPhone 6S Plus. It was interesting, but certainly not jaw-dropping. It had a 3-D appearance, but was pretty unrealistic, even the Urban Walk based on Street View. My 6-year-old daughter loved it, though.
While running the demo, I noticed that the phone started to run hot, which surprised me somewhat, since I do not experience that (to this degree, at least) on even the most demanding games.
No-one who tried it, including my motion-sick-prone wife had any nausea or other discomfort.
All in all, I would categorize it as an interesting experiment rather than a cutting edge technology. I'm very keen to see what Apple will do with it, since Google seems to simply be piddling around with it.
Cardboard is as basic as it gets.
Of course, it could be enough to turn some people off.