Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

New foam Merge VR headset launches today for pre-order, running Google Cardboard

Thanks to Google Cardboard, VR has become much cheaper for beginners who want to test the platform. Merge VR is the latest startup that wants to offer a headset to newbies, though the firm has avoided the use of cardboard for the headset in favor of foam.

Amazon

The purple polycarbonate headset offers more comfort than a cardboard shell, which should be good for extended gaming or watching a movie. There is also a small container near the front of the headset to fit your smartphone, used to beam VR content into your eyes.
Recommended Videos

You can also buy a remote similar to the Wii remote, which lets users control games, switch channels, and move around the user interface. The remote is made of the same foam material, and comes in black. The remote will integrate with all apps on Merge VR’s own ecosystem, but will be incompatible with most Google Cardboard apps until developers add support for it.

Remotes tend to reduce the potential motion sickness of virtual reality, since by using them, the user doesn’t have to continuously move their head to interact with the game.

Merge VR revealed the headset at E3 2015 earlier in the year, but we haven’t heard much since. The news that pre-orders start today, with a November 15 release date, confirms that the company hasn’t given up on the cheap virtual reality project.

The headset will be available on Amazon for $80, and the remote will be available for an undetermined price. Merge VR is also launching in the UK with video game retailer Game UK, costing £50. Merge VR is more expensive than Google Cardboard’s base model, which costs $30, but the headset offers more comfort as well as an ecosystem of apps and games.

Correction on 11-10-2015 by Malarie Gokey: The original version of this article stated that the VR headset comes with the controller, but that is incorrect. The article has been changed to reflect that Merge VR sells the headset and controller separately. 

David Curry
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David has been writing about technology for several years, following the latest trends and covering the largest events. He is…
Apple’s VR headset could launch early, and that’s risky
A rendering of an Apple mixed-reality headset (Reality Pro) in a gray color seen from the front.

Tim Cook has pushed for Apple to launch its Reality Pro mixed-reality headset as soon as possible, despite objections from the company’s powerful design team. The move raises questions over whether the device will be ready for prime time when it launches this summer.

The news comes from the Financial Times (FT), which cites a former Apple engineer as a source. This engineer reportedly worked on the headset project and noted that there is “huge pressure” on Apple to launch the Reality Pro after years of postponements.

Read more
Apple’s secret VR headset just leaked an ingenious idea
A rendering of an Apple mixed-reality headset (Reality Pro) in a gray color seen from the front.

Apple’s Reality Pro mixed-reality headset is probably just a few months from launching, but we’re still seeing the company’s top-secret ideas seeping out into the wild. The latest leak shows one way you might be able to control things in Apple’s metaverse -- and it’s a pretty unusual concept.

According to a recently granted patent (number 2023/0042447 A1), Apple is exploring the idea of using an Apple Pencil as a sort of virtual reality (VR) controller. The idea is that your hand holding the Apple Pencil could be displayed in the mixed-reality world that you see through the headset, overlaying it onto augmented reality (AR) elements.

Read more
We now know how Apple’s VR headset may handle video, and it’s pretty awesome
A rendering of an Apple mixed-reality headset (Reality Pro) in a gray color seen from the front.

Ever since the first rumors surfaced that Apple was working on a mixed-reality headset, it has been assumed that immersive video would be a key feature of the device. Yet we’ve never really known exactly how this would work -- until now.

That’s because Apple has just been granted a patent (USPTO number 11570417) that goes into detail on how a user might watch video content while wearing the headset, which will allegedly be dubbed Reality Pro. And that patent presents an intriguing system that could have uses beyond simple video.

Read more