A new report from Bloomberg claims that the PS5 VR headset will launch in the holiday 2022 period with an OLED display.
The article, which largely covers Japan Display Inc’s shift to making LCD VR displays, cites “people with knowledge of the matter” in saying the device will launch later next year and feature OLED panels from Samsung.
The original PSVR also uses an OLED display, as did the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. But Facebook & HTC now use LCD panels. Bloomberg’s report suggests this shift to LCD will continue in VR, with Sony as the exception to the rule.
LCD panels are typically available in higher resolutions, and usually cost less. But unlike OLED, LCD can’t display the true color black since there’s a backlight behind the pixels instead of emitting their own light.
Sony confirmed it was working on a new VR headset for the PS5 earlier this year, but stated it would not be released in 2021. A holiday 2022 window isn’t too surprising; developer kits for the device are being sent out around now, giving studios a decent window to prepare software for the device. The original PSVR launched in October of 2016, too.
That said, the window between now and late 2022 leaves plenty of room for Facebook to grow in the VR space. The company’s Oculus Quest 2 standalone headset has already outsold every other Oculus headset combined and the company has acknowledged a possible ‘Pro’ version of the device that could well also launch in 2022.
Last month we reported that the PS5 VR headset — which doesn’t have an official name — featured a resolution of 4000×2040 pixels (2000×2040 per eye), a lens separation adjustment dial, and gaze tracking capable of foveated rendering.
What do you think of the new PS5 VR headset potentially launching in late 2022? Let us know in the comments below.
