Bloomberg reports that Sony is “aiming to release the successor during the holiday period next year,” citing sources familiar with the company’s plans who have asked not to be identified for obvious reasons.
These sources also indicated that while other companies such as Facebook and HTC have switched to LCD screens for virtual reality glasses, the PSVR 2 will stick to OLED screens manufactured by Samsung.
This means faster response times and better contrast, although the report suggests that other manufacturers have moved away from OLED because it is easier to achieve higher resolutions without prices getting out of hand.We may find the PSVR 2 to be expensive when it finally arrives.
Of course, Sony has said very little about the PSVR 2 so far, apart from the fact that it is officially in the works, but so far leaks have suggested a significant update to the original model. This is not surprising given that it will be a full six years between launches if Bloomberg’s sources are correct, but it seems that the experience will be very different when it arrives.
To begin with, the image quality should be significantly improved.
A recent report from UploadVR suggested that the screen resolution would drop from 960 x 1080 per eye on the original model to 2000 x 2040, which is combined with a 4K display in general. To make sure everything runs smoothly, the device will apparently use foveal rendering, a technique that follows the eyes and reduces the image quality of things you are not looking at directly.
We’ve also heard that the PSVR 2 could use reverse tracking as seen on the Oculus Quest 2, with cameras on the headset itself, eliminating the need for the somewhat finicky PlayStation camera and allowing for room-scale VR gaming. That’s a big difference, considering the original model required you to be in front of the camera at all times.
We reached out to Sony to ask if the 2022 release date cited by Bloomberg is something they’re working on, and we’ll update this article with the company’s response.
