As Samsung prepares to launch its next-gen phablet extraordinaire, the Note 7, at its special event this upcoming Tuesday, the leaks are continuing to flow. Today, photos of the new Gear VR were leaked from leaker OnLeaks (h/t 9to5Google). The device is reportedly going to be sporting a USB Type-C connection which corroborates reports that the new Note 7 will be shifting to the new connection type.
This headset is reportedly a bit bigger (207mm x 122mm x 98.5mm) if not just to accommodate the sheer size of Samsung’s ballooning devices. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is a pretty snug fit in the old Gear VR headset (198mm x 116mm x 90mm) so it’s no surprise that Samsung’s new hallmark phablet might need some new digs to get in on the VR game. The new headset reportedly gets a boost in field-of-view (110-degrees compared to the old model’s 96-degrees) that brings its FoV up to par with higher-end headsets from Oculus and HTC.
The color change from white to black is a very welcome one that goes beyond the aesthetic. The old white plastic Gear VR often fell victim to a slight amount of light leakage when played on sunny days which really just didn’t make any sense. That said, Samsung does lose a bit of its Gear VR brand power as a result of the color change since its a bit difficult to tell the difference between this and every other black mobile VR headset out there, but Samsung may very well continue selling a white version so ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
Other than that, there’s not really that much to see here that’s changed. There aren’t any visual clues to what the other side of the device holds. The old headset sported a touchpad for rudimentary input controls, and while this one is highly likely to maintain that setup, there has been some talk of an external Bluetooth controller being included for compatibility with Google’s Daydream headset reference design which Samsung has already signed on as a partner for.
TechCrunch will be on the floor at Samsung’s Unpacked event next week checking out what Samsung ends up showing off, though it seems there won’t be a ton of surprises given how many freaking leaks there have already been.