Soon: HTC teased its response to the Meta Quest Pro last month, and now the cover is off. The company’s latest VR/AR headset, arriving in March, is similar to the competition but lighter, a few hundred dollars cheaper, and with some unique features. HTC says it designed the Vive XR Elite to excel in productivity and entertainment.
Pre-orders are now open for HTC’s Vive XR Elite headphones, which will launch in March for $1,100. It could offer users a lightweight alternative to the $1,500 Meta Quest Pro, with similar hardware, color transfer functionality, and software support.
The XR Elite features four large field of view tracking cameras, a high-resolution RGB camera, and a depth sensor. At 1920 x 1920 per eye, HTC’s new product has a slightly higher screen resolution than the Quest Pro. At 635g, the XR Elite weighs almost 100g less than Meta’s flagship.
Other specs like 110-degree FOV, 90Hz max refresh rate, 128GB of storage, and 12GB of RAM are in line with the competition. HTC also stuck with the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, the same processor as the $400 Meta Quest 2.
One of the unique features of the XR Elite is its approach to vision adjustment. HTC designed its “continuous” interpupillary tuning and adjustable diopters so that all users could enjoy headphones without wearing glasses. Users can also quickly disconnect and change the XR Elite’s battery. A fully charged battery should last around two hours, while an internal backup battery gives users more time to replace the main one without shutting down. HTC plans to release face and eye tracking accessories for its headsets later this year.
Users can run PC VR software on the XR Elite over USB-C or Wi-Fi, or operate the headset alone with apps and games from HTC’s Viveport platform. Pre-orders before February 15 include five Viveport games.
Although HTC’s newest product compares favorably to the Quest Pro and Quest 2, it will likely soon have to compete with Meta’s upcoming headset, which will likely take the Quest 2’s price tag sometime this year. Sony’s upcoming PlayStation VR2 may also be a factor to consider.
Sony’s headset will require a PlayStation 5 console and will only play console games, so it won’t compete directly with Meta and HTC, but its specs look impressive for $500. Its OLED screens will offer users 2000 x 2040 pixels per eye at a maximum of 120 Hz when it launches on February 22. Apple is also reportedly designing a VR/AR headset.
