HTC used to be at the forefront of virtual reality applications and games, but in recent years, the company has focused more on the enterprise market. HTC has now revealed the VIVE Focus Vision XR, a headset intended for both companies and PC VR players.
The new VIVE Focus Vision is built for PC VR gaming and applications, standalone VR (where no connected PC is required), industrial training, work collaboration, and mixed reality applications. It looks like HTC is still mostly focused on companies that want VR headsets for work, but HTC hasn’t entirely forgotten about VR gaming this time around.
The VIVE Focus Vision has a resolution of 2448x2448 per eye (4896x2448 combined), which is higher than the Meta Quest 3 (2064x2208 per eye), Valve Index (1440x1600 per eye), and Meta Quest Pro (1800x1920 per eye). That’s still lower than the Apple Vision Pro, which has “23 million pixels” according to Apple, compared to the roughly 12 million pixels on HTC’s headset. It also has a refresh rate of up to 90Hz and up to 120-degree field of view. HTC is promising an update to 120Hz with a new DisplayPort mode in “late 2024,” but if that’s important to you, you should hold off on buying until that’s rolled out.
The headset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset, paired with 12GB RAM, 128GB storage, a microSD card slot for adding up to 2TB more capacity, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C ports, Bluetooth 5.2, and Wi-Fi 6. There are four tracking cameras, two eye-tracking cameras, two 16MP full-color cameras for passthrough video, and several other sensors. HTC notes that support for Wi-Fi 6E is “country dependent.” The main battery can be swapped out while the headset is running, and it lasts “up to two hours” on a single charge.
HTC said in its announcement, “VIVE Focus Vision features DisplayPort mode for PCVR, enabling lossless visuals by connecting the headset directly to a PC graphics card. With DisplayPort, gamers and enterprise users alike can enjoy content exactly as the developers intended, without degradation of quality. This is perfect for PCVR gamers who have SteamVR game collections, as well as enterprise organizations who want to deliver a powerful immersive experience.”
Even though HTC is pitching the VIVE Focus Vision as a great PC VR headset, the competition is tough. There’s the aging Valve Index that starts at $999, and the $550 PlayStation VR2 now works with PC with the use of the official $60 PC adapter. With wireless VR or a DisplayPort cable, the Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro can be used with PC VR. It’s great that eye tracking is supported on the Focus Vision, since that’s missing from the VR2 (when used with PC), Quest 2, Quest 3, and many other headsets. We’ll have to wait and see if the VIVE Focus Vision turns out to be competitive with other PC VR options.
You can pre-order the VIVE Focus Vision from HTC starting today, and pre-orders include a free VIVE Wired Streaming Kit for DisplayPort, which normally costs $149 on its own. HTC did not confirm pricing before publication, but given this is “built on the success of the VIVE Focus 3,” a headset that costs $1,300, the Vision will certainly be expensive.
Source: HTC Vive