Samsung had earlier confirmed that the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ won’t work with the Gear VR but didn’t offer an explanation for why that is the case, and we have now been told by one of our sources that the expiry of Samsung’s partnership with Oculus is the reason for the lack of support for the Gear VR on the new flagships. Existing devices, like the Galaxy S10 lineup, should continue to work with Samsung’s virtual reality headset.
Since Oculus develops the software that powers the Gear VR, it isn’t surprising to learn that Samsung won’t be able to add Note 10 support if Oculus is no longer bound by whatever partnership the two companies had when they started out to make virtual reality more affordable a few years ago. Oculus has its own VR headset, the Oculus Go, which is a standalone device that doesn’t need a phone to be inserted on one side, and Oculus will no doubt want to focus on selling its in-house VR headset, one that costs $199 and $249 for the 32GB and 64GB variants.
We’ve reached out to Samsung for a comment on whether the Note 10/Note 10+’s incompatibility with the Gear VR is actually down to the end of its partnership with Oculus. In the meantime, tell us whether the lack of Gear VR support is something that will factor into your decision to not buy either of the new Note flagships down in the comments!
