Oculus has officially stopped giving support to Samsung's controversial smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7 raising over safety concerns. Oculus is the official partner of Samsung in its "Samsung Gear VR" which is the company's offering of the virtual reality experience.
This move by Oculus is a no-brainer as Extreme Tech reports as Lithium-ion batteries could be highly energetic, and the chances of having a device explode on one's face does not seem to bode well with potential customers and users. Oculus, in an official statement, says that customer safety is top priority and would just stick with offering support to other Samsung devices such as the S6, S7, and the S7 Edge among others.
Oculus joins other companies that have already withdrawn support for the Galaxy Note 7. In fact, most airlines would have already advised their passengers to turn off their phones and effectively remove the battery when aboard the plane. Upon attempt to use the "Gear VR" with the Galaxy Note 7, the following message actually appears:
"Customer safety is Oculus' top priority. Oculus is removing support for all Note 7 devices on the Oculus platform. Until further notice, Note7 devices will not be compatible with the Gear VR. For more information regarding the Note7, please contact Samsung directly."
Tech Crunch explains that Oculus needs to protect its face as its partnership with Samsung is the very reason why Virtual Reality has been placed in much more eyes in the market, and that it would not want to hurt its reputation by aligning itself with a phone that has been reported to catch fire or explode.
Samsung, though, has already ordered the halt of the production of the Galaxy Note 7 worldwide. If that wasn't enough, it also announced that the Galaxy Note 7 would no longer be sold worldwide as well, in what has already been dubbed by the internet as the official death of the Galaxy Note 7.
