Exclusive Look at Sony's Next VR Device: Price Estimates, Availability Forecast, Specifications

Exclusive Look at Sony’s Next VR Device: Price Estimates, Availability Forecast, Specifications

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In January, Sony announced a partnership with Siemens to develop an industrial headset for engineers and 3D content creators. This Sony-Siemens pro-grade collaboration is tentatively scheduled to arrive later this year. Here’s what else we know about the Sony VR headset release date, features, and more.

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When Will the Sony VR Headset Be Released?

The CES 2024 unveiling of the Sony-Siemens partnership came with a general timeline for their Extended Reality (XR) head-mounted display (HMD): later this year.

We now know that this HMD is called SRH-S1, but Siemens hasn’t confirmed any arrival dates beyond a “launching soon” message on its website.

Assuming Sony and Siemens are still on track with their initial announcement, we anticipate a release by the end of the year.

Lifewire’s Release Date Estimate

We expect to see the Sony VR Headset by December 2024 at the latest.

Sony VR Headset Price Rumors

There’s no word from Sony or Siemens about pricing, but this headset has been emphasized as a pro model for creators and engineers in the industrial metaverse.

In that respect, it seems more likely to rival the Apple Vision Pro (with a $3,499 starting price) than the more mid-tier Meta Quest 3 , which starts at $599.

Pre-Order Information

Pre-ordering isn’t available yet, but we’ll be sure to include links and details here. You can also sign up for launch updates directly from Siemens.

Sony VR Headset Features

Sony presented prototypes of its VR headset at CES 2024, and a recent Siemens press release confirms one important detail of the partnership: The headset was developed with and exclusively uses Siemens’ Xcelerator engineering software—specifically its new NX Immersive Designer product, which will also be available when the headset launches.

Much of what we’ve seen about the headset design stays true to the initial CES announcement. Here are a few other Sony virtual reality headset features you can expect to see:

Ring and pointer controllers allow natural gestures : You can keep the ring on even while typing on a keyboard, and its gyro sensor supports 3D object manipulation. Built-in haptics on the pointer offer modeling precision.
Two RGB cameras : These cameras are placed on the same optical access as the eyes.
Head and hand tracking : Four trackers gather spatial information.
Lightweight, adjustable design : The headset is balanced front to back, is adjustable forward and backward, and accommodates glasses. It also has forehead padding, and the front panel lifts up.

Sony

Sony VR Headset Specs and Hardware

On the specs and hardware side, this Sony-Siemens headset will run on Android OS and have an 8K display: two 1.3-inch micro-OLEDs with 4K resolution per eye.

Like the rumored Samsung-Google VR headset , the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip will also power the Sony version.

In a January press release from Sony , Said Bakadir, Senior Director, Product Management of Qualcomm Technologies, gave some background about this development:

“We designed our Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 to deliver 4K display resolution, cutting-edge graphics, and unparalleled performance to enable creators to build innovative spatial content that will transform all industries for the better,” said Bakadir.

“It’s exciting to see Sony enter the enterprise space with their spatial content creation system and utilize Snapdragon XR technologies to unleash more realistic, detailed, and precise Mixed Reality (MR)/VR experiences that will help developers and creators push forward an even more immersive future.”

As more details take shape about the release and availability of this Sony VR headset for content creators and professionals, you can find them here.