You can pick up this 360-degree camera for $349.
For those of you patiently waiting in the US to get your hands on a Gear 360 camera, we finally have a price and availability date.
The camera will hit retail shelves for $349 on August 19th, along with the new Galaxy Note 7 and the updated version of the Gear VR.
Following limited releases during VidCon and Lollapalooza, Samsung has been quiet when it came to a US release, even after we saw the Gear 360 go on sale in South Korea and parts of Europe months ago.
The Gear 360 was announced at Mobile World Congress back in February and promised to begin shipping in the second quarter of this year. It was obviously delayed until this month. Back in May we wondered if the delay had anything to do with a sensor supply shortage that plagued the camera world due to an earthquake in Japan that shuttered a manufacturing facility responsible for the majority of sensors made in the world.
Its been almost three months since we got our hands on the Gear 360, when we purchased a version from South Korea, and have since been shooting quite often with the device. You can view our full unboxing and video test here.
Samsung has mostly been interested in getting the Gear 360 in the hands of influential creators, but hopefully now with more availability to soon hit the market, we’ll see many more creators like yourself shooting and sharing.
In July, Samsung Creators launched a competition, challenging aspiring, indie filmmakers and creators to develop VR / 360 content, using Samsung’s VR products. Ten winners will be chosen, one from each of the following ten categories: Music, Auto, Science and tech, Gaming, Travel, Fashion, Culinary, Cause-related, 4D and Sports. One winner from each of the 10 categories will win a prize that includes travel to the Creators Awards ceremony in New York, a cash prize and masterclasses with VR filmmaking pros.
