HTC’s Vive has great VR headsets at multiple price points: the premium Vive Pro 2, the mid-range Vive Cosmos Elite, and the recently released Vive Flow. None of these can do AR, but the company has a plan to catch up with the likes of Meta’s Quest Pro.
The plan includes a yet-to-be-named headset with VR and AR capabilities that will be unveiled at CES on January 5. HTC’s global product manager Shen Ye spoke with The limit and revealed some details about the headset.
There will be front and side facing cameras and controller support (with six degrees of freedom) and hand tracking. The cameras will offer color passthrough, which is what makes mixed reality applications possible.
The headset will be self-contained and have a battery life of 2 hours. The goal when designing it was to make it small, light and comfortable. Ye says the headset will be used for gaming, entertainment, exercise, and even business tools.
Since it’s going up against the $1,500 Quest Pro, this will be a flagship offering. The company says its headphones will be better than Meta’s with benefits like higher dynamic range on the cameras, which will allow users to read text from a laptop or phone, for example.
It’s unclear if there will be inward-facing cameras for eye tracking, but it seems to be more a question of whether it will be built-in or available as an add-on. HTC is also taking a thoughtful approach to privacy, which is a growing concern with these earbuds (and can be an advantage over Meta’s offerings).
Start a new Thread