The unnamed device will be revealed for the first time. It will have color passthrough mixed realities.
HTC will introduce a new flagship AR/VR headset next month. This will allow it to reestablish itself in the consumer virtual reality market. The company won’t reveal all details until CES, which is January 5th. The Verge spoke with Shen Ye, HTC’s global head of product. Shen Ye is a small, lightweight headset that promises full-featured virtual reality and augmented reality.
Ye states, “It’s all about taking all the advances that we made not only in the design aspect, but also in the technology aspect, and making it meaningful and appealing to consumers.”
The unnamed headset looks almost like a pair of goggles and has front- and back-facing cameras, according to a photo shared by The Verge. Ye says that the headset can be used for entertainment, gaming, exercise, productivity, and even some of the most powerful uses cases, such as enterprise tools and productivity. The headset will have a two-hour battery life and be completely self-contained. It also supports controllers with six degrees freedom and hand tracking.
The headset will have outward-facing cameras, which can transmit a color video feed to the user’s screens. This allows for mixed reality experiences. Although mixed reality is still a very experimental option, Ye said that HTC has ongoing relationships with developers. He also suggested that the best uses would be found after release. Ye promised that “We are at the stage where the technology is solid” and that we will soon see some truly amazing experiences.
HTC teased the forthcoming headset in October with very few details. We speculated that it would be a successor of the Vive Flow, a consumer-oriented headphone introduced last year. HTC hasn’t confirmed this at the moment. HTC describes the device as a result of the lessons learned from the Vive Focus 3 and the Flow headsets. It also claims that the headset is a high-end headset designed for business. HTC’s headset is a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality, which puts it in line with Meta’s recently released Quest Pro as well as Apple’s yet unknown AR / VR device.
The recently released Meta Quest Pro had color passthrough as a selling point. HTC was reluctant to compare the two, but Ye suggested some differences. The HTC new headset will include a depth sensor. This is something that Meta had considered, but was ultimately dropped. This could enable users to map their physical environments more accurately and make more efficient tracking. Ye believes the headset has a greater dynamic range than other color-passthrough mixed reality options. He described using HTC’s cameras to read text on a phone or laptop screen, something that is rarely possible with Meta’s Quest Pro.
The new headset is more feature-rich than the Flow, which originally came with a smartphone-based control system. It’s also lighter and bulkier than the Vive Focus 3 (which was shipped with a similar scheme), Ye claims that the new headset is “one of the lightest on the market” — though we don’t yet know how light it is. Although the HTC image doesn’t show the headset’s strap configuration, Ye mentions that he exercises in it. This is in contrast to the Flow which was prone to slide off my face. Ye says, “We spent so many time doing ergonomics.” The Flow was our first attempt at this glasses form factor. We learned a lot from it. It is clear that we will always make improvements when we see areas that need improvement.
We are not sure if HTC’s device has eye tracking. This is a feature that the most recent Meta (and, according to rumors, Apple) headsets rely heavily on. Ye answered that the Vive Focus 3 had eye tracking as an upgrade option, which HTC often offers to its headset. Incryptically, he also said that HTC was developing privacy protections to prevent anyone from accessing the headset’s data remotely or locally. This includes an encrypted local partition that stores data. He says, “That will somehow slide into the question you asked eventually.”
HTC hopes that its privacy promises will make it stand out from Meta’s headsets. Although we don’t know the exact price of the headset, Ye strongly suggests that it will be more expensive than the $399 Meta Quest 2. He says, “We live in an age when consumer VR headsets are massively subsidised by companies that want to vacuum up personal data and give it to advertisers.” “We don’t believe that the best way to approach privacy is to compromise it.” The Vive Flow was launched at $499, while the Focus 3 was $1,300. We wouldn’t be surprised if this new headset falls somewhere in between.
The Quest 2 offers many benefits, besides the low price. While Meta has acquired or funded a lot of great VR experiences, HTC has traditionally been slow in this area, although it has offered unique options such as its Viveport subscription gaming program. Viveport will provide standalone VR experiences, while the new headset can be connected wirelessly to a computer or via cable to run desktop VR games. Ye stated that the goal of the headset is to offer a wide range of experiences.
HTC declared itself temporarily out the consumer VR market last year, perhaps because it couldn’t compete with Meta’s highly subsidized headsets. What has changed, other than Meta raising its prices? HTC launched two standalone headsets and expanded its capabilities quickly. Ye said that HTC has always had a clear vision of the best experience for consumers. We know how best to make the best tech, and we now know how to create super-small form factors devices. These learnings allow us to feel that we are now ready to create something really exciting.” However, it doesn’t hurt that Meta and Apple are preparing for a battle over consumer VR. So if HTC is looking to join the fray of VR enthusiasts, the window of opportunity may be closing.
