Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (photo Facebook).
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Samsung event. (Facebook photo)

Samsung generated the kind of electrifying fan experience during Sunday’s Galaxy S7 event that all gadget makers crave — even Apple.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s surprise appearance at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) conference in Barcelona made big news, and is one of the most discussed topics in tech on Monday. Samsung and Facebook teamed to promote virtual-reality features in phones and social networking, and Zuck lent his celebrity to help promote Samsung’s latest handsets.

“Going back about 10 years, most of what we shared and experienced was text,” Zuckerberg told the audience. “Then it was photos. And now we’re entering into a world where that’s video. But pretty soon we’re going to live in a world where everyone has the power to share and experience whole scenes as if you’re right there in person.”

According to reports, Zuckerberg incited the kind of star-struck response unseen in the tech sector since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011. Be that as it may, Zuckerberg’s appearance may have overshadowed Samsung’s VR technology.

(Photo: Facebook)
(Photo: Facebook)

Zuckerberg is a definitely a VR believer. In 2014, Facebook paid $2 billion to acquire Oculus Rift, the maker of the virtual-reality headset that goes by the same name. Since Zuckerberg is a VR stakeholder, maybe it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that he was willing to talk up Samsung’s phones.

“VR is going to be the most social platform,” Zuckerberg said. “Now, that’s also why we’ve worked with Samsung, to deliver Gear VR. Gear VR is by far the best mobile VR experience. And that’s because it combines the best hardware from Samsung with the best software from Facebook.”

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