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[Eddie-Griffin]

https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/16/23510908/htc-vive-ar-vr-headset-preview-ces-flow-focus

The latest to do so is HTC. While we already knew the gadget-maker was headed to CES, it’s now confirmed plans to unveil a new virtual reality headset at the show.
In a report on The Verge, HTC confirmed it will launch a new VR headset on January 5 at CES. It’ll be a smaller, lighter, all-in-one headset with both virtual and augmented reality features on board. HTC also teased a first look at the new goggles (see the lead image above), indeed boasting a goggle-esque look with a shiny glass front. It’ll rival Meta’s Quest 2 headset on both price and features.

HTC’s new headset will likely follow the Vive Flow released last year, even sharing some design elements. The original headset only scored three out of five stars in our review, so we hope for big upgrades. Additionally, in the new teaser image, we can spot front-facing and side-facing cameras. HTC confirmed these cameras will allow an AR feature similar to Meta’s Passthrough, which lets you see your surroundings in full colour with the headset strapped to your face.

The brand also confirmed the new headset will pack two hours of battery life, new controllers, and hand-tracking. While HTC didn’t confirm it, the report hints at eye-tracking (like the recently launched Meta Quest Pro), and encryption for more secure data storage. Pricing and availability will be revealed at CES in January. Thankfully, there’s not too long to wait until we find out!

Teaser image of the headsets goggles from HTC,

It looks like HTC has found a way to get a headset down to the price close to the Quest 2. It will have eye-tracking, hand-tracking, color passthrough, and new controllers. The two hours of better life indicate it can be used standalone like the Quest 2, or likely with the option to hook to PC.

If HTC can actually pull off the pricing than they might actually start moving headsets.

The only issue is they need to have software showcasing the headset at CES. Many headsets have yet to show the games that are coming out and if HTC is about to launch a headset less than a month from now they really have to have the games ready along with other notable applications,

Now we have HTC and TCL going after the Quest 2 early next year at prices that casuals have been gravitating towards, it looks like we are going to see more competition in the VR industry after years of Quest headset dominance.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

HTC: hey, hello!

Im impressed they are still rocking VR. Looks like they are dropping the patented PS design.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Didn’t quest 2 come out like 3 years ago? Shouldn’t this be easy to do? It doesn’t sound like they want to surpass it by much if at all

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Didn’t quest 2 come out like 3 years ago? Shouldn’t this be easy to do? It doesn’t sound like they want to surpass it by much if at all

late 2020.

Of course don't expect HTC to only build a device to match the Quest 2, they'll surely have better hardware doing better than it especially since they already announced Quest 3. If HTC only did enough to match Quest 2 that would be silly.

They have new tech and new controllers, the only concern is what they are going to cheap out on to match the pricing of Quest 2.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

I think of this as HTC's competitive offering for the upcoming Meta Quest 3, not the MQ 2.

I hope it is competitively priced and focuses on the consumer market (with the ability to use it for enterprise application as well).

HTC's enterprise offering (Vive Focus 3) was released in June of 2021 to drive enterprise adoption that included a very nice (hardware wise) headset and suite of enterprise focused MDM tools/management solutions and an enterprise first app store.

Meta released their OFB (oculus for business platform) to dismay and woe. While their hardware (MQ2) was extremely affordable their OFB version (the same headset just locked to the OFB software environment) was very rough. Enterprise/Organizations were faced with paying $1000 usd (plus an additional $200 per headset per year) for a Quest 2 OR use consumer Quest 2 headsets which was prohibited by the Meta end user software agreements. This program was shut down roughly 11 months or so after it was created. They created "meta" accounts instead of requiring a facebook account to log in and they loosened (somewhat) the restrictions on consumer headset use in enterprise environments.

Jump forward to this year, Meta decided to release a Quest Pro headset (which IS amazing) at a really high price point, sans their OFB requirements. While I love this headset personally NONE of our clients will touch it due to the price.

The Quest 3 SHOULD have some great new features and upgrades: better camera hardware which drives better hand tracking, great controller tracking, adding some but not all of the body tracking features on the Quest Pro, and the obligatory spec bump to their hardware (screen, gpu/cpu, etc).

The price is rumored to also be around double that of the Quest 2 (so $649 to $699).

From a development standpoint the Oculus development environment is hands down better than anything out there right now. Most of the dev we do is all Quest based while supporting Open XR to hit the other hardware platforms (Vive Focus, Pico, and Tethered devices).

I really like HTC's approach and transparency (they are the only manufacture that meets the DoD's hardware and part procurement/sourcing requirements) but they are fighting an up hill battle when it comes to Meta's hardware and software environment.

If this headset is intended to compete with the Quest Pro....they are going to have a bad day IMO.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

I think of this as HTC's competitive offering for the upcoming Meta Quest 3, not the MQ 2.

Well yes, however they will get a leg up on Facebook by pricing their headset near the Quest 2, as it's unlikely based on the price increase we saw that they will be able to use the same pricing range for the Quest 3, it will still be cheaper end, but having an early advantage gives HTC time to get more games and an ecosystem going.

HTC having better specs than the quest 2, with some features from their more expensive Vive line mixed in, and able to have some features the Quest 3 will likely have, puts them in a great position, as if you can get mostly the same on the HTC outside whatever advantages the Quest 3 has, than consumers would not really care, and would buy the same games on the cheaper but powerful HTC.

This is what Quest 2 did, once you get the casuals sucked in it's hard to get them out. HTC needs to knock off some of that Quest 2 base now early.

 

[tkscz]

Honestly by now it should be cheap to use a SnapDragon XR1. That would already be better than the Quest 2.

 

[Sleepwalker]

The only reason no one has competed with the quest 2 in price point despite it being old now is because of the huge loss FB was taking on per system sold and they even had enough of that. So I'm pretty interested to see the specs and pricing of this and further headsets. The Quest 3 is not gonna be cheap IMO.

 

[mckmas8808]

Who will be making games for them though?

 

[UltimaKilo]

Needs to have a much better processor (I don't believe one exists for VR right now other than the XR2), better FOV and higher resolution to compete with some sort of DLSS type of AI upscaling tech to blow Meta out of the water. Meta has the market right now, but it's still early.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

The only reason no one has competed with the quest 2 in price point despite it being old now is because of the huge loss FB was taking on per system sold and they even had enough of that. So I'm pretty interested to see the specs and pricing of this and further headsets. The Quest 3 is not gonna be cheap IMO.

But apparently they are breaking even at $400 after the price increase, so a $450-$500 headset for a better Quest 2 would actually be a pretty good target, and that's likely the range the Quest 3 will cost when it comes out so HTC could cut the floor from under them.

If HTC executes things right, but this is HTC so...

TCL is also aiming to compete with the Quest 2, as is a couple others who are in the PSVR2 price range. It seems makers know they can't compete unless they are sub-$700 in the VR market and want to move units beyond a niche

Needs to have a much better processor (I don't believe one exists for VR right now other than the XR2), better FOV and higher resolution to compete with some sort of DLSS type of AI upscaling tech to blow Meta out of the water. Meta has the market right now, but it's still early.

Not sure how 7 years later is early, FB came out of nowhere with Quest and Quest 2 and took like 80% of the market. Considering the leading headset was the Samsung stuff that was partnered and powered by Oculus and Oculus going their own way is why that was stopped, you could argue Facebook has been leading VR since this whole second wave started back in 2015.
.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Not sure how 7 years later is early, FB came out of nowhere with Quest and Quest 2 and took like 80% of the market. Considering the leading headset was the Samsung stuff that was partnered and powered by Oculus and Oculus going their own way is why that was stopped, you could argue Facebook has been leading VR since this whole second wave started back in 2015.
.

Because VR is an incredibly nascent category that is far from mature. Eye-tracking and foveated rendering are only now being implemented, there are still incredible limitations with the current lenses, the field of view is still incredibly constricted and the refresh rate is far from where it needs to be.

All this coupled with the fact that current tech is not there to run two 12k screens at 240hz with an FOV of 210 degrees in a thin form factor that has a weight of under 200g.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Because VR is an incredibly nascent category that is far from mature. Eye-tracking and foveated rendering are only now being implemented, there are still incredible limitations with the current lenses, the field of view is still incredibly constricted and the refresh rate is far from where it needs to be.

All this coupled with the fact that current tech is not there to run two 12k screens at 240hz with an FOV of 210 degrees in a thin form factor that has a weight of under 200g.

No it's there, it just costs $2500 and up.

But my post was mainly about how Oculus has basically been running VR as the leasing platform since 2015 until now.