Because it doesn’t support Gear VR

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus have just been announced, and while these phones impress in many ways, one thing they’re lacking is compatibility with Samsung’s Gear VR headset.

Samsung confirmed this to tech analyst Anshel Sag and to Engadget, with a spokesperson saying: “The Gear VR is not compatible with Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+. We remain committed to innovating in VR and AR to deliver incredible new experiences to our consumers.”

So if you have a Gear VR or were planning to get one, these aren’t the phones for you. At least not right now – there’s no guarantee that a new Gear VR model won’t be released with support for the Note 10 range, but it doesn’t sound especially likely.

Don’t count VR out

That said, with the company claiming to remain committed to innovating in the VR space, we may well see some new VR products from it at some point, be they headsets that connect to a phone, standalone ones, or something else entirely. We just wouldn’t count on them working with the Galaxy Note 10 range.

But it’s also very possible that Samsung is just covering its bases with this comment, and actually isn’t particularly invested in VR anymore. Impressive as VR can be, it has had a bumpy road and has so far failed to find mainstream success in any form.

That’s not to say no companies are still trying though. There remains a constant stream of impressive games for the likes of PlayStation VR, while recent hardware releases like the Oculus Quest provide a relatively affordable all-in-one VR option.

• The Samsung Galaxy S11 is already on the horizon