HTC has announced that the Vive Focus Plus a new virtual reality headset it unveiled last month and will launch on April 15th for $799. The Vive Focus Plus is a self-contained headset with fully tracked motion controllers, following on the heels of HTC’s Vive Focus, which launched with similar specs but more limited tracking options. It’s loosely similar to the upcoming Oculus Quest, but instead of aiming at a mass-market gaming audience, HTC designed the Vive Focus Plus for business customers.
Vive Focus Plus will provide enhanced optics, featuring all new fresnel lenses implemented into the head-mounted display (HMD) to enhance visual clarity. The standalone headset does not need to be tethered to a smartphone or a PC. It will be open sales in 25 markets worldwide and support 19 languages.
“With the unveiling of these enhanced features for Vive Focus Plus, the VR industry is moving forward with this new generation of standalone full-fidelity VR devices,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, the China president at HTC, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be able to feature numerous experiences and use cases at VEC, which showcase the incredible opportunity for Vive Focus Plus and the entire VR category.”
The original Focus shipped with a remote-style controller with a small range of motion. The Focus Plus comes with a pair of controllers that are tracked through the internal cameras — again, similar to the Oculus Quest. Those controllers add quite a bit to the original $599 price tag, which already costs more than many consumer headsets. (The Oculus Quest, for instance, will cost $399.) But HTC’s focus on making VR work for businesses might still help sell potential users on the headset. And we’re still waiting for HTC to offer more details on another headset: the somewhat mysterious Vive Cosmos.
VIVE Focus Plus Specs
Display: 3K AMOLED (2880×1600)
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Audio: Built-in Speaker
Tracking: Inside-Out
Frame Rate: 75Hz
Field of View: 110-degrees
Battery: 4000 mAh
Controller: 6DoF
Data Connectivity: Wi-Fi® 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Memory (RAM/ROM): 4/32 GB
Connector: USB Type-C
Charging: QC3.0
Encryption: File-based (same security as Android Smartphone)
