The VR headset industry has come to a bit of a standstill lately. After the incredibly popular Meta Quest and Quest 2, we haven’t seen any popular and attractive VR headsets yet. So far, these are the only devices on the market from major manufacturers that can work without a PC connection and provide an entertaining and gaming VR experience with the help of internal stuffing. However, their position may soon be shaken.
HTC told The Verge that they would unveil their new flagship virtual reality headset on January 5, 2023 – during the next Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Company representatives say it will have a lightweight design and be able to support “gaming, entertainment, exercise, [and] even some of the more powerful use cases.” Benefits also include a variety of enterprise tools.
The company promises its device will operate for up to two hours, have controllers with six degrees of freedom and hand tracking, and, most importantly, a completely self-contained design-no external PC is required, as with the Quest and Quest 2. So far, only one image shows the design in the style of regular glasses. It also shows at least one external camera. HTC said the cameras could send color images to the headset’s internal screen. Thus they plan to implement mixed reality.
However, so far, nothing is known about the price of these devices. A representative of HTC said the following: “We live in an era where consumer VR headsets are massively subsidized by companies trying to collect and use personal data to provide to advertisers. We don’t think our approach is a compromise of privacy.“
Since Meta raised the Quest 2 to $400, we should expect HTC’s headset to cost just as much, likely even more.
