HTC’s got its eye on the virtual reality space. And the augmented reality space. Better yet, it’s planning to tackle both with the same device, due to be revealed at CES 2023. It has previously teased the headset, which looks to take a goggle format, but more information has surfaced of late.
Part of that information is a single, weirdly angled render. Otherwise, technical details have also been revealed, giving us some idea of what HTC’s still-unnamed headset will be capable of. Since the company was responsible for the HTC Vive (and a batch of others), there’s some reason to feel optimistic about this.
HTC’s new reality
The preview image, seen above, has what appears to be cameras (or possibly other sensors, but probably cameras) facing forwards and to the sides. This is part of the company’s plan to offer full-colour video passthrough. If you’ve ever used one of Meta’s Quest headsets, you’ll know what video passthrough looks like. That’s when reality intrudes on your virtual experience so you don’t blunder into a couch. It could, however, be used to turn a VR headset into an AR headset.
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Other information on HTC’s hardware includes the ability to operate as a standalone headset or on a PC. This gives it some versatility. Lightweight applications can be operated without extra hardware, while more demanding experiences can be boosted by a connected PC. It’ll last two hours on a charge, its controllers should offer full six-axis movement, and hand tracking is also a thing. Almost all of these, you’ll note, are similar features to Meta’s Quest hardware.
Hopefully, there’s no Meta Quest Pro price attached to this one, however. Once the darling of the Android world, the Taiwanese company has turned its sights on the territory staked out by Meta. Considering how Meta’s doing of late, that may not be a bad plan. All the company needs to do is offer the same hardware at a cheaper price point to take the lead. And if its VR/AR experience turns out to be better… well, no number of resurrected musicians is likely to help Zuckerberg’s ambitions then. We’ll know more about HTC’s upcoming VR gear early on in 2023. Stay tuned.