ZTE showcases Big Video ambition with new virtual reality headset

ZTE, China’s largest listed telecommunications equipment manufacturer, is showcasing its ambitions in the coming so-called Big Video era by launching virtual reality (VR) headsets for its newest flagship smartphone.

The company presented its latest smartphone, AXON 7, on Thursday in Beijing as well as a virtual reality VR headset, called ZTE VR, which will rival Samsung’s Gear VR and Huawei VR. All three rely on smartphones for both computing and display.

The two devices are products of the company’s strategy to invest heavily in video, with industry experts predicting that video data traffic will account for more than 70 per cent of total network data consumption by 2021.

Equipped with a 5.5-inch 2K Amoled screen and dual built-in speakers, AXON 7, driven by dual Hi-Fi chipsets, is designed for global high-end video consumers.

The model is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 6GB of RAM and has a 3,250mAh battery.

ZTE VR, featuring a high-precision 9-axis gyroscope and proximity sensor, performs better than Gear VR and Huawei VR to reduce latency to about 16.7 milliseconds, said Waiman Lam, senior director of technology and partnerships at ZTE Mobile Devices, as Huawei VR has a latency of 18 milliseconds and Gear VR, 20 milliseconds.

The ZTE VR headset comes with a 96-degree field of view (FOV), same as Samsung’s Gear VR. By way of comparison, Huawei VR offers a 95-degree FOV and the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets 110-degrees.