During yesterday’s quarterly earnings call, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reiterated on the company’s promise to support their Daydream VR platform.
As reported by The Verge, Pichai claims there will be 11 smartphones on the market with support for the company’s Daydream VR headset before the year is up.
Currently, the only devices with support for Daydream are Google’s own Pixel phones, Motorola’s Moto Z, Huawei’s Mate 9 Pro, ZTE’s Axon 7 and Asus’ Zenfone AR (which is unavailable in Australia).
It’s unclear if the remaining five or six (depending on how you count them) new Daydream-compatible handsets will come in the form of new devices or already-released ones via software updates.
The Samsung S8 and S8+ is said to be receiving support for Google Daydream through a firmware patch rolled out sometime this month. However, given that not all handsets feature the hardware required to run Daydream, expect the roster to be fleshed out a little more come this year’s IFA Conference in Berlin.
Compatibility has been the biggest barrier to Daydream’s appeal so far, and Google look to be making a major effort to address that here. However, many of their previous initiatives in the area have yet to yield much of a return.
Google inked a deal with Samsung, LG, Lenovo and HTC back in May but there’s been little concrete confirmation beyond the gradual-but-inconsistent rollout of Daydream to the S8.
