Last month VRFocus reported on Samsung unveiling a new 360-degree camera model, the Samsung 360 Round, essentially the finalised consumer version of Project Beyond from several years ago. Whilst specifications and other details were released, one thing Samsung was keeping quiet on was price. That’s now been revealed at a hefty $10,499 USD.
As it features the ability to livestream 4K 3D video and spatial audio with “little-to-no latency” thanks to its seventeen paired lenses, the Samsung 360 Round was never going to be aimed at the consumer, lifestyle or hobbyist market, it has the Gear 360 for that. Even so, $10,499 certainly isn’t cheap, looking squarely at professionals and studios who want the best image quality.
This level of camera has only been catered for by the select few. A few years ago creators were using multiple GoPro rig setups with six or more cameras. Now that’s changed to far more streamlined devices like the Jaunt One or the Nokia OZO – which had dominated the top-end of the market until the company made the surprise announcement that it was cutting back funding on virtual reality (VR) whilst halting further OZO development.
So for £10,499 what else do you get? Well there’s 6 internal microphones for spatial audio; 2 external microphone ports, livestreaming in 3D and 2D; a uni-body chassis designed to reduce heat, removing the need for a cooling fan and minimizing size, weight and audio interference; and an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance.
Of course a camera of this quality requires some powerful hardware to run it, especially if you want to livestream, needing a 10-core i7-6950X, 32GB of RAM and two GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards. Then again, those that can afford the Samsung 360 Round likely won’t flinch at the PC cost.
Also revealed recently were some designs for a new Samsung Gear 360. While not officially announced by Samsung, the new design featured a more bulbous, rounded look over the 2017 model.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Samsung, reporting back with the latest updates.