Sony’s next-gen PlayStation VR headset is likely to come out in late 2022, according to a new report. Bloomberg’s sources say Sony is “aiming to release the successor in the holiday period next year,” and that the headset will use OLED panels from Samsung Display.
A release in that timeframe wouldn’t be too surprising, since Sony has already started talking up the PS5 headset’s potential. Its existence was first confirmed in February along with some initial details, and Sony followed up by showing off the new controllers in March.
The headset itself hasn’t yet been revealed. But according to an UploadVR report from last month, it’ll have a total resolution of 4000 x 2040 and make use of eye tracking to enable foveated rendering, which should ease the processing load by using lower resolution imagery in your peripheral vision. The next-gen PSVR is also said to use inside-out tracking and include haptic feedback in the headset as well as the controllers.
Bloomberg’s report is more broadly focused on Japan Display Inc, an LCD specialist that has seen smartphone display sales slump as the market moved to OLED but now considers VR headsets “big business.” While OLED was initially the standard for VR, more recently manufacturers like Facebook and HTC have been moving to LCD panels because they’re more practical at higher resolutions, despite having lower contrast. Sony, however, appears to be sticking with OLED for the next PSVR.
