Facebook and Oculus have announced the Oculus Rift S, a follow-up to 2016's Oculus Rift. The Rift S will be available this Spring for $399 and include two new Oculus Touch controllers.
The Rift S will run everything the original Rift did. It includes built-in Insight tech, similar to the standalone Oculus Quest – which was also just confirmed for a Spring release at a $399 price point – which means the Rift S will not need room sensors. Just one wire runs from the headset to a USB port. When asked about where wireless fits into their plans, Oculus Studios boss Jason Rubin told IGN that no official first-party wireless adapter is currently in the works, and that if they had chosen to go wireless, it would've either driven the price up – Oculus calls $399 the "sweet spot" – or they would've had to sacrifice screen resolution. The Rift S indeed has a higher resolution than either the Rift or the Quest, noticeably reducing the "screen door effect." It weighs a tad more than the original Rift but is "better balanced," weight-wise, according to Oculus. The headband was designed in partnership with Lenovo. The Rift S also sports increased visual clarity, improved lenses, and a fifth camera. "Passthrough+" allows you to see the real world through the Rift S's camera without taking the headset off, allowing you to better virtually draw your play space during setup.
The Rift S will run everything the original Rift did. It includes built-in Insight tech, similar to the standalone Oculus Quest – which was also just confirmed for a Spring release at a $399 price point – which means the Rift S will not need room sensors. Just one wire runs from the headset to a USB port. When asked about where wireless fits into their plans, Oculus Studios boss Jason Rubin told IGN that no official first-party wireless adapter is currently in the works, and that if they had chosen to go wireless, it would've either driven the price up – Oculus calls $399 the "sweet spot" – or they would've had to sacrifice screen resolution. The Rift S indeed has a higher resolution than either the Rift or the Quest, noticeably reducing the "screen door effect." It weighs a tad more than the original Rift but is "better balanced," weight-wise, according to Oculus. The headband was designed in partnership with Lenovo. The Rift S also sports increased visual clarity, improved lenses, and a fifth camera. "Passthrough+" allows you to see the real world through the Rift S's camera without taking the headset off, allowing you to better virtually draw your play space during setup.