HTC has just announced its brand new VR headset, the Vive Focus Vision, and instead of directly going after the Meta Quest's crown (and price point), it seems to be setting itself up as an "everything headset" closer to what Apple did earlier this year… except good.
Initially, I felt a little sceptical of the price, and the decision to go for a last-gen Snapdragon chip, but it starts to make a bit more sense when looking at what it is trying to do. Though technically capable as a standalone gaming headset, this seems more complementary to the experience, offering lossless visuals for your PC and productivity functions for your downtime.
Announced today, the Vive Focus Vision is an XR (or extended reality) headset that comes with a whopping 5K resolution, eye tracking and automatic IPD adjustment, as well as a hot-swappable battery for longer sessions of use.
However, it will also cost you a rather hefty $1,000 to get one for yourself, almost $400 more than the most expensive configuration of the Meta Quest 3, the best VR headset right now. We tested out the Vive Pro 2 back when that launched in 2022 and, while that offers the same resolution and FOV, it's too prohibitively expensive to fully recommend. As a cheaper headset with better functions, the Vive Focus Vision could offer something different to the market, even if it's hard to see it beating Meta at its own game.
The headset has 4 GB of RAM more than the Quest 3 and comes with less storage from the start but it has support for Micro SD, which will help it run spatial videos and games. It also comes with the ability to hot-swap batteries, which means it has a small internal battery to keep the headset turned on, when you swap out batteries.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Vive Focus Vision | Meta Quest 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 2448 x 2448 pixels per eye | 2064 x 2208 pixels per eye |
| Refresh Rate | 90Hz (120 Hz in display port mode coming later this year) | Up to 120 Hz |
| Lossless PCVR quality | Yes (with display port) | No |
| FOV | Up to 120 degrees | Up to 110 degrees |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 | Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 |
| Storage | 128GB (with support for 2TB micro SD) | 128 GB, 512 GB |
| Memory | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Eye tracking | Yes, with 120 Hz gaze data output frequency. Automatic IPD adjustment | None |
| Battery | Hot-swappable battery with up to 2 hours of use | 2-3 hours, not hot-swappable |
| Tracking | Inside-out tracking | Inside-out tracking |
| Price | $999 | $500 (128 GB), $650 (512 GB) |
Noticeably, the HTC headset uses a worse chip than the one you can find in the Meta Quest 3 and Pico 4 Ultra. Given the price, this confused me. Why not go for the better chip, especially when that's what your competition is using? I asked a representative of HTC about this and they told me:
"Vive Focus Vision runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor. The XR2 platform delivers a great balance of power and performance in this hybrid device, giving us a platform to deliver stunning visuals with accurate tracking. In the Vive Focus 3, our implementation of the XR2 was substantially more performant than other devices, because we're good with device cooling and were not experiencing thermal throttling."
It's important to note that, while this can and will function as a consumer device, the Focus Vision is also an enterprise product, and can be used in training for healthcare, defence, manufacturing, and more. On this point, I was told: "Today, many enterprise organisations and PCVR gamers use PCVR because they want the full 5K 120 Hz experience, which can't be achieved through a mobile platform."
Importantly, as well as being able to do lossless PCVR gaming with DisplayPort support, the Vive Focus Vision has stereoscopic passthrough to emulate depth in the headset and even has eye tracking to better navigate the UI. The hot-swappable battery makes it a good choice for anyone looking to do productivity work, much like that of Apple Vision Pro.
However, this headset also drives home how great a deal Meta's offerings are. Though HTC's new headset beats it out in some key areas, the Quest 3 still holds its own in a side-by-side comparison, especially when it's so much cheaper. I'll be testing out the Vive Focus Vision for myself in the future but it'll take an awful lot to find its niche in a market that already has plenty of great choices.
