Google had been busy making sure its Virtual Reality products are leading the industry and its next step may be leaving the Cardboard behind. Imagine Google's VR without the Cardboard.

Google has been making waves with its virtual reality products. Since the creation and release of the Google Cardboard, the company has been making sure it's moving forward. Talks have circled the net about the company hiring for engineers to work on a Virtual Reality Camera. 

Now, it's taking it a step further. With only less than two years since its birth, the Cardboard may be dropped. 

The company is planning to release a Google VR headset later this year which will make the product the successor of the Cardboard. 

What makes this new VR headset interesting? The new smart phone based headset will have improved sensors and lenses housed in solid plastic casing which would make the user wear something more technological and futuristic. The headset will be compatible with a broader range of Android devices. Google's aim is to enhance the consumer's VR viewing experience and the aesthetics may just be the start of the trend.

This goes to show that Google is maturing fast when it comes to the Virtual Reality industry as it readies itself to compete with and challenge Facebook's Oculus headset - to be released soon.  The company is pushing further to advance itself in the niche-turned-mass industry. 

There has been no update regarding the price of the headset - comparing it to the Cardboard which was low-cost. Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO explains that the Cardboard was just the first step, "Beyond these early efforts, you'll see a lot more from us and our partners in 2016," he adds.

The Cardboard has been successful, with 5 million units shipped but when the headset comes out, it may be time for the Cardboard to retire.