HTC has cancelled the standalone Daydream headset which was announced at Google I/O earlier this year.

The cancellation of the HTC Daydream headset was confirmed to TechCrunch, with a HTC spokesperson stating ‘We still have a great relationship with Google, but will not be bringing a standalone device to the western markets on Daydream’. TechCrunch also received a confirmation of the cancellation from Google VR/AR product lead Clay Bavor who tweeted:

HTC appeared to be quite interested in releasing the standalone headset, teasing the launch soon after the announcement on-stage at Google I/O showing a Vive branded Daydream View headset. The Vive branded Daydream headset product page is still live at this stage, but with the cancellation it should be taken down soon.

HTC is having quite a lot of success with their Vive Virtual Reality headset, though the same can’t be said for their mobile business. Earlier this year, Google announced they had bought into a partnership with HTC effectively buying out their mobile division offering a lifeline to that end of the business. It stands to reason that HTC wouldn’t want to muddy the waters with another headset.

The announcement of standalone Daydream headsets at Google I/O included headsets from both Lenovo and HTC, but with HTC pulling out of the release it leaves Lenovo wide open to profit from standalone Daydream headsets. Lenovo has been making in-roads in both Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality with their recently released Jedi Challenge headset, and mixed reality ‘Explorer‘ branded headset for Windows 10.

Lenovo teased their standalone Daydream headset soon after Google I/O and it appears that they still intend to release their standalone Daydream. For what it’s worth, their micro-site is still showing the headset as well.

No announcement has been made by Lenovo on exactly when we’ll see their headset, but Google has confirmed it should be available by the end of the year.

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