Google’s first Daydream VR ready phone, Pixel, is now available for pre-order and the company is bundling in the new Daydream View headset “while supplies last.”
Google announced their newest flagship phone, Pixel, this morning at a press event in San Francisco. The phone is the first that’s officially certified to be ‘Daydream ready’ meaning that it’s compatible with Google’s Daydream platform, their high-end mobile VR initiative for Android.
The phone, which launches later this month, is now available for sale starting at $650. If you’re pre-ordering from the Google Store, the company says they’ll throw in the $80 Daydream View headset for free, which includes both the controller and the headset.
According to what we’re seeing on the Google Store, the offer is open only to US, “while supplies last.” Google promises to send a promo code, within 4 weeks of shipping the Pixel phone, which can be redeemed in the Google Store for the free Daydream View headset. The promo code is good until the end of 2016, so it’s possible that Google plans to run the promo through the end of the year.
At under $80, Google has undercut mobile VR market leader Samsung who offers their latest Gear VR headset for $100. Samsung has committed to creating their own Daydream-ready phone which would be compatible with the Daydream View headset, so we’re still waiting to see how the Daydream and Gear VR platforms will maneuver around one another.