Samsung appears to be all-in on the virtual reality (VR) craze. The company was one of the first to offer a VR headset for smartphones, and it appears ready to launch a 360-degree VR camera. A recent trademark application for the name Gear 360 appeared in Samsung’s home country of South Korea. While a watch might come to mind, the listing clearly states that its primary product categories will be photography and cameras. Although not official, this is a clear indication that it’s a VR camera of some sort. Related: Samsung Gear VR review With the popularity of the Gear VR, it’s no surprise that Samsung would want to capitalize on the trend by offering a device for producing content that can be viewed with it. Samsung already announced intentions to release such a product back in 2014 at its developer conference. The company showed Project Beyond (pictured above), which is a 360-degree camera that includes 16 component cameras with ultra-wide lenses.-It’s unknown whether the Gear 360 will be the same device or if it will have an entirely new design. Although the Gear 360 will be aimed at Gear VR owners, it’s also very possible that 360-degree footage captured on the device could be used on other VR devices such as the-Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and-HTC Vive. The Gear VR, a collaboration with Oculus, was originally launched as a developer edition back in 2014 along with the Galaxy Note 4. Samsung followed up with another version for the Galaxy S6, and eventually released a consumer version late last year for $99. It works with the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge Plus, and Note 5. Related: Don’t just watch VR, make it with the Vuze 360-degree point-and-shoot camera Although Samsung was a pioneer in the VR viewer segment, the company is now behind in the VR camera segment. Several VR cameras are already available today, and newer ones from Nikon-and-Vuze, were shown off at CES 2016. It’s unknown when Samsung might launch its first VR camera, and we can’t know for sure if the Gear 360 name will be utilized. With the appearance of this trademark application, however, it’s likely to be sooner rather than later. Mobile World Congress seems like a good target, but that’s only speculation. Also watch: Samsung Gear S2 Now Comes In Rose Gold And Platinum Please enable Javascript to watch this video



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