Facebook: $200 wireless Oculus VR headset coming in 2018

Facebook is making a new $200 mainstream wireless VR headset, something that's planned for next year, and something the social media giant is hoping to have the same effect Apple did with the original iPhone to the world, with its new $200 headset.

Oculus will be making the headset, with the news of the $200 wireless VR headset breaking days after Oculus slashing the price of the Rift + Touch bundle for $399. The new codenamed "Pacific" headset is reportedly smaller than the Rift, and lighter than the mobile-based Gear VR from Samsung. The final design might change, but those with details on the new headset said it will be easy enough to pull out of your bag and start watching movies on the plane or train.

Inside, we should expect a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor of some sort, with gaming performance somewhere in the vicinity of the Gear VR - but not the full-blown Rift on the PC. The new Facebook VR headset will be released next year, and with a $200 price point, we might see some fierce competition in the mobile VR space.

Qualcomm being in the middle of it is only another market where the company can dominate, as there's nothing AMD or NVIDIA have that can compete with the powerful mobile solutions in the form of many Snapdragon processors - including next-gen products that Qualcomm are working on now.