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Dubbed the VR820, the reference device pairs the mobile chip maker’s now ubiquitous Snapdragon 820 SoC with an eye-tracker, six-axis motion tracker, and a pair of AMOLED displays at resolutions up to 1440×1440 pixels each—a big jump over the 1080×1200 resolution displays of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, albeit running at 70Hz rather than 90Hz.

While that might sound expensive—particularly as the VR820 essentially integrates a high-end smartphone into its Galaxy Gear-like shell—Qualcomm hopes that third-party manufacturers will be able to save on R&D costs by using the platform, thus bringing down the overall cost. Qualcomm performed a similar trick with smartphones, putting out a series of reference designs that several manufacturers (particularly those in China) used to produce smartphones at cheaper prices.