Facebook Oculus announces $399 Rift S headset launching this spring

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Facebook co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, speaks at an Oculus developers conference while wearing a virtual reality headset in San Jose, California

Facebook on Wednesday announced the $399 Oculus Rift S, the latest version of its PC-connected virtual reality headset that will go on sale this spring.

Although virtual reality seems far from Facebook’s core market of social networking and its recent focus on private messaging, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly believes it’s the “next major computing platform after mobile in about 10 years,” according to a 2015 email published by TechCrunch.

Last year, reports emerged that Facebook was going to ditch VR hardware that required a PC to function, which offers the best performance and is geared toward hardcore gamers, and instead focus on stand-alone headsets like the Oculus Quest. The Rift S, although a modest update, proves that Facebook has not given up on the market.

The new headset is the successor to the company’s original Rift headset and will include a higher resolution display, a new tracking feature called Oculus Insight and a feature called Passthrough+ that allows users to get a glimpse of their real-world surroundings without having to take off their headset. The Rift S will also include a halo headband that is designed to increase comfort.