(Yicai Global) Jan. 9 -- Oculus VR LLC plans to bring a virtual reality headset to China via a partnership with local smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc.

The unit of Facebook Inc. announced the tie-up at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday. The new product, Mi VR, uses Xiaomi-created software but is otherwise similar to the Oculus Go, which the company released to the rest of the world in October, news outlet Sina Tech reported.

Hugo Barra, vice president of Facebook's VR business, was the main facilitator behind the deal. He served as Xiaomi's vice president for nearly four years and helped the firm expand overseas.

Facebook did not disclose the specific release date of the Mi VR, but said at the release of Oculus Go that the Chinese equivalent would go on sale early this year at USD199.

Oculus was founded in 2012 and produced the Gear VR, a set of virtual reality headset, in partnership with South Korean smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co. Facebook took over in 2014 with a USD2-billion investment.