Virtual Reality is the Flavour of MWC 2016 for Mobile Biggies

Virtual reality headsets from brands like LG and Sony have featured at this year’s MWC.

Mobile brands want a piece of virtual reality this year. (Photo: The Quint)

If you’ve tried the Google Cardboard then you know something called virtual reality exists in the world right now. The technology which was deemed futuristic a couple of years back has finally matured to some extent.

Most of us expected to see a slew of smartphones from the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG and Sony among others. However, this year’s event heavily featured virtual reality (VR) and its supporting products. All this has led us to believe that VR is finally set to take the centrestage this year, and buying a VR headset may not be that aspirational anymore.

Samsung was quick to take VR up its strides when the Korean brand launched its $99 Gear VR last year. Other brands however, have taken their own sweet time to enter the VR sphere with LG, Sony and even HTC finally taking things seriously.

It’s Your VR Against Mine

For geeks like us, the wide array of available VR products highlights a promising future. Even Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook has come out in support of VR and has said that “VR is the next platform”. And it looks like most mobile makers have echoed his insight.

Pretty soon we’re going to live in a world where everyone has the power to share and experience whole scenes as if you’re right there

<b>Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook</b>

HTC’s much delayed Vive headset will start selling across countries and has been priced at $799 which is $200 more than what you pay for the Oculus Rift.

But everyone knows the demand for a low-priced VR headset will be much more than a high-end product and hopefully, in 2016, we get to see many more affordable VR options.

LG and Sony have also chipped in with their respective VR headsets that give the segment an exciting flavour and buyers can pick the ones that are worth their money and style.

Some expected VR to go down the 3D way i.e., dying out slowly. However, with big names like Facebook in the mix, you’ve got to be interested. The social networking giant has created a social VR team that will be exploring the future of social interaction in VR.

Other names involved in the evolution of VR are Microsoft and Apple. All this makes us believe that the future looks bright. One can only hope that the push for VR-friendly content is as expansive as the availability of the hardware in the coming years.