Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset to Support 'Next Gen Cellphones'

The Oculus Rift headset, which features a fully immersive virtual reality experience, originally made its debut on Kickstarter last summer where it raised almost $2.5 million. Since that time it's been in development and while a dev kit is available, the initial consumer version is expected to debut next year.

As the dev kit is only compatible with the Mac and the PC, there's been speculation about whether or not the Oculus Rift will work with next generation consoles, like the upcoming PS4 and the Xbox One, but it turns out that's not what the company is aiming for.


According to Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe, who spoke with Edge, the company isn't planning to develop the headset with upcoming consoles in mind, and instead plans to focus its efforts on both PCs and mobile devices.

"I love consoles but internally we're a lot more excited about where mobile's going to go, and being able to plug it right into a next gen cellphone," he told us. "It's the innovation, and how fast cellphones are now improving – where we'll be with the next Galaxy or the next iPhone compared to where consoles are. Those things are almost doubling every year, compared to a console that's just stuck it out for eight years – it just makes us very excited. There's a lot of improvements that can be made on the hardware side for VR that no-one's doing yet because it's a new thing. The mobile rate of innovation is going to be able to make a lot of those improvements."

As our sister site TouchArcade points out, mobile devices like the iPad and the iPhone are fully capable of supporting the headset's 1080p display and the technology exists for a potentially wireless system using Bluetooth and AirPlay. With the addition of MFi game controllers, mobile gaming could be entering a whole new era with the Oculus Rift.

Iribe wasn't able to give a specific release date for the Oculus Rift, but he said that the company "would love for it to be next year."

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro
Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
Tesla Charging

Tesla Working to Add Apple CarPlay Support to Vehicles

Thursday November 13, 2025 8:31 am PST by
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
iPhone Pocket Short

iPhone Pocket Now Available to Order, But Already Selling Out

Friday November 14, 2025 6:20 am PST by
Apple recently teamed up with Japanese fashion brand ISSEY MIYAKE to create the iPhone Pocket, a limited-edition knitted accessory designed to carry an iPhone. iPhone Pocket is available to order on Apple's online store starting today, in the United States, France, China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, it is already completely sold out in the United...
tvOS 26 Profiles

tvOS 26.2 Adds a Useful New Feature to Your Apple TV

Friday November 14, 2025 10:02 am PST by
Starting with the upcoming tvOS 26.2 update, currently in beta, additional profiles created on the Apple TV no longer require their own Apple Account. In the Settings app on the Apple TV, under Profiles and Accounts, anyone can create a new profile by simply entering a name and indicating whether the profile is for a kid. The profile will be associated with the primary user's Apple Account,...
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
m1 chip slide

Five Years of Apple Silicon: M1 to M5 Performance Comparison

Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
walmart new ornametns

Walmart Black Friday Deals Begin Today With Low Prices on Headphones, TVs, and More

Friday November 14, 2025 7:55 am PST by
Walmart's Black Friday sale has officially kicked off today, with an online shopping event that's also seeing some matching deals in retail locations. There are quite a few major discounts in this sale, including savings on headphones, TVs, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Walmart. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.2 Beta 2

Wednesday November 12, 2025 3:29 pm PST by
Apple today provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26.2, which adds a few new features worth knowing about. Measure App Apple's Measure app now features a Liquid Glass design for the level, with two Liquid Glass bubbles instead of white circles. Games App There's now an option to sort games in the Games app Library by size, in addition to Name and Recent. CarPlay The...

Top Rated Comments

mixel Avatar
161 months ago
Still looks nerdish - still looks terrible.
"looks" don't come into it at all, and the experience will sell it to enough people. (it's not for everyone) Nobody is going to make VR trendy looking - but that's not what it needs.

Anyway.. Most fun things look weird when you're not the person who's actively doing them.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
filmantopia Avatar
161 months ago
They really made the right move here. Oculus should be tied to mobile-- this device could go much farther than just gaming. Just about anyone who has tried it has described it as a striking experience that in some form represents the future of entertainment.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ConCat Avatar
161 months ago
Doom3 ...meh

Angry Birds 4D - Mind officially blown

Wait a sec... So a version of Angry Birds where you can move through time as easily as you can move through space? That would be something indeed!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
161 months ago
Hopefully that doesn't mean people walking on the streets, too busy focused on whatever they're doing and not paying attention to what's going on

What you're describing is more like Google Glass.
The Oculus Rift doesn't have a transparent display/camera to allow for augmented reality, and doesn't have a battery so it can be used outside (yet anyway).
Current version is only meant to be used inside, tethered to a PC and power source.
I personnally think upping the resolution and fixing the latency/motion sickness issues is more pressing than making this device mobile. I think they should perfect the VR experience first, and then care about mobility. It still has a long way to go before being a truly realistic experience, but I have faith in Oculus to deliver something really good at some point.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pakaku Avatar
161 months ago
Hopefully that doesn't mean people walking on the streets, too busy focused on whatever they're doing and not paying attention to what's going on around them...

Still looks nerdish - still looks terrible.

Well, seems you're rather over-self-conscious, aren't you?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TedM Avatar
161 months ago
I'm so excited for this. I really wanna try some open world skyrim or fall out with it.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)