In short: HTC teased its answer to Meta Quest Pro last month, and now it’s taken the cover off. The company’s latest VR/AR headset, due in March, is similar to the competition, but lighter, several hundred dollars cheaper and with several unique features. HTC claims to have developed the Vive XR Elite to excel in performance and entertainment.
Pre-orders are now open for the HTC Vive XR Elite headset, which will go on sale in March at a price of $ 1,100. It can offer users a lightweight alternative to Meta Quest Pro for $1,500 with similar hardware, color transfer features and software support.
The XR Elite is equipped with four wide-angle surveillance cameras, a high-resolution RGB camera and a depth sensor. With a resolution of 1920 x 1920 for each eye, HTC’s new product has a slightly higher screen resolution than Quest Pro. At 635 g, the XR Elite weighs almost 100 g less than the Meta flagship.
Other features, such as a viewing angle of 110 degrees, a maximum refresh rate of 90 Hz, 128 GB of memory and 12 GB of RAM, are not inferior to competitors. HTC also stuck with Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 — the same processor as in Meta Quest 2 for $400.
One of the unique features of the XR Elite is the approach to vision adjustment. HTC has developed a “stepless” interpupillary adjustment and diopter adjustment so that all users can use the headset without glasses. Users can also disconnect and quickly replace the XR Elite battery. One fully charged battery should last for about two hours, and the internal backup battery gives users extra time to replace the main one without disconnecting. HTC plans to release face and gaze tracking accessories for its headsets later this year.
Users can run virtual reality PC software on the XR Elite via USB-C or Wi-Fi, or control the headset alone with applications and games from the HTC Viveport platform. Pre-orders through February 15 include five Viveport games.
Although HTC’s newest product compares favorably with Quest Pro and Quest 2, it will likely soon have to compete with the next Meta headset, which will probably cost Quest 2 sometime this year. Sony’s upcoming PlayStation VR2 may also be a factor worth paying attention to.
Sony’s headset will require a PlayStation 5 console, and it will only play console games, so it won’t directly compete with Meta and HTC, but its specs look impressive for $500. Its OLED displays will offer users 2000 x 2040 pixels per eye at a maximum frequency of 120 Hz when it launches on February 22. Apple is also reportedly developing a VR/AR headset.
