Samsung Electronics plans to launch a strong drive to foster virtual reality as its new growth engine which can complement the role of smartphones.
The company expects that VR devices would remain for the time being mainly as auxiliary devices playing a complementary role for smartphones in areas like entertainment and games. However, it would soon grow to become independent devices as the scope of its applications expands toward a variety of new areas, including education, job training, medical, construction, sports, and communication.
Samsung executives sat for a special lecture on the future of VR at the presidential level meeting held on February 17 where they discussed how to exert group-wide efforts to foster its VR business.
Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, recently said to Samsung executives, "VR has a growth potential strong enough to replace smartphones. We should preempt the VR area not only in devices but also in content markets as well.”
Samsung is one of global leaders in the VR area. After forming an alliance with an American VR firm Oculus in 2014, Samsung released the Samsung Gear VR headset at home in November 2014 which was sold hundreds of thousands of units worldwide.
