The festive season is almost here and as you may expect major companies are preparing for the busiest consumer spending period of the year. Two of the biggest tech firms looking to attract customers are Microsoft and Google, both of which will be holding special events within a day of each other. Microsoft has announced a ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ event for October 3rd while Google is set to reveal the Pixel 2 smartphone on 4th October.
Other than the name and date of the event Microsoft hasn’t actually stated what it plans on showcasing but expect it to be further details on the head-mounted displays (HMDs) from Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus and HP, most likely confirming a content lineup which it teased back in August, and possibly more on Steam.
Google’s event on the other hand seems to be primarily focused on its new smartphones, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. That’s not to say there won’t be any virtual reality (VR) news thrown in for good measure. The arrival of the original Pixel in 2016 was followed by the launch of Daydream, at the time Pixel was the only supporting handset. So with a new Pixel phone could there be a new Daydream?
There’s also the little question of HTC Vive Focus. The name was uncovered last week but hasn’t yet been officially confirmed so the event would be as good a time as any to do this. The standalone headset was announced during the Google I/O conference earlier this year, built upon the Daydream platform. Additionally, with Microsoft launching four of its HMDs alongside the Windows Fall Creators update on 17th October, Google and HTC might not want their rival to have too much of a head start.
Whatever happens be sure to stay glued to VRFocus for the latest VR announcements from the events.
via Mint VR