Google says the Pixel 4 won't support its Daydream mobile VR platform, which is being phased out as it also stops selling the Daydream viewer
the marketplace has spoken about isolating glasses/headsets https://www.engadget.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The writing has been on the wall since May, when Google launched the Pixel 3a and 3a XL without Daydream support, making the flagship Pixel line the platform's last refuge. With the Pixel 4 also excluded and the Daydream View viewer pulled from sale, Google is ending the hardware side of its mobile VR push outright.
The move lands alongside Samsung's parallel struggles with Gear VR, leaving both major Android vendors exiting phone-based VR at once — a category The Verge already characterized as all but dead days after this announcement.
First-order effects
- Pixel 4 buyers lose Android's built-in VR option entirely, and existing Daydream View owners are cut off from any future headset or firmware refresh.
Second-order effects
- Samsung's Gear VR, already flagged as failing to take off in The Verge's post-mortem on phone-based VR, loses its last credible Android counterpart, removing any competitive pressure to keep the category alive.
Third-order effects
- Google's retreat points toward a split where casual VR survives only as open-source software — weeks later it moved Cardboard's code into the open with the Cardboard open-sourcing — while immersive computing shifts to dedicated headsets rather than phone accessories.
The trend: Phone-based VR is collapsing as Google and Samsung exit, pushing consumer VR toward dedicated headsets and leaving phone vendors with no stake in the market.