Asus will launch a standalone VR headset later this year

Asus is trying to get ahead of the increasingly competitive VR headset market with a standalone VR headset tentatively called the Asus AIO VR set for release sometime in 2017. The headset market is awash primarily with VR headsets that depend on mobile phones to provide the necessary hardware, but standalone headsets have a processor and screen built into them.

While the term “AIO” or “All-In-One” is typically used in reference to desktops that have full functionality compressed into a convenient package, the same idea also applies to the concept behind the Asus AIO VR. Asus has attempted a more conventional smartphone-dependent VR headset that people saw at Computex 2016 with memorable stitched leather straps, but at the time the company said that AR, not VR, was their immediate focus.

The recent release of the Zenfone AR, a Zenfone 3 variant revealed at CES, shows Asus's plan for VR is evolving. Powered by a Snapdragon 821 chipset, the ZenFone AR as all the hardware and software compatibility it needs to run AR and VR applications.

It features a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED screen, 6GB of RAM (with an 8GB RAM variant), a 23-megapixel depth-sensing camera, Daydream VR support, and a vapor-cooling system to keep temperatures under control while running taxing AR and VR applications.

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