HTC reveals first image of upcoming MR headset to consumers and aims to compete with Meta

HTC today unveiled the first official image of the headset it’s teased over the past few months. The company is also apparently looking to re-enter the consumer XR space with an unnamed device, which is set to give more details at CES on January 5th.

As reported in Exclusive By the edge, HTC is preparing to expand beyond the enterprise and business segment once again and introduces what Shen Ye, HTC’s global head of products, calls “a small and light all-in-one headset that promises full-featured VR and AR.”

Yi calls it an effort to create something “meaningful and attractive to consumers,” noting that it’s the culmination of lessons learned from making the HTC Vive Flow and Vive Focus 3.

It’s also likely more expensive than the $400 Quest 2, which will be a sticking point if it really wants to be a consumer device first, not forefrontSommer like Quest Pro:

“We are in an era when consumer VR headsets are being heavily subsidized by companies trying to offload and take personal data to present to advertisers,” says Ye. the edge. “We don’t think the way we want to handle it is to compromise on privacy.”

I also revealed some specs ahead of the official dump:

The unnamed standalone headset is said to offer a color MRI transit, making it more similar to a Quest Pro rather than a transparent augmented reality headset like the HoloLens. The upcoming headset is said to have a depth sensor, which should theoretically provide more accurate room mapping. It’s also said to have better dynamic range, making it better able to pass through things like reading text on a screen or a smartphone. The headset also has a two-hour battery life, and supports 6DOF VR controllers along with optical hand tracking.

It’s said to be “one of the lightest on the market,” though there are still some mysteries to be uncovered. It’s uncertain if it will include eye tracking, though HTC has a great track record of releasing eye tracking units that might track it here as well. Privacy protection is also a concern that HTC hopes to address with regard to its external cameras, though it hasn’t said anything specific yet.

The unnamed HTC headset reportedly suffered a leak of its design and some key specs back in November, which showed the outer shell and alleged dual LCD screens with 1920 x 1920 resolution up to 120Hz, mechanical IPD adjustments, pancake lenses, headgear adjustment mechanism, and rear mount. . the battery.

At the time, VR analyst and YouTuber Brad Lynch claimed that the leak also included some vague information on the chipset “faster than [Snapdragon XR2] In Quest 2”, where the upcoming Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 is expected to be.

However, none of the information in the leak has been confirmed, so we’ll just have to wait and see at CES 2023, which will be held from January 5 to 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada.