Support NeoGAF

[Eddie-Griffin]

New HTC Vive headset leaked: Fast, slim and modular

HTC has been hinting at a new VR headset for weeks. Youtuber Brad Lynch claims to have leaked the design and technology.

mixed-news.com

Lynch reached out to industry sources, particularly those in the supply chain, and got his hands on photos of the VR headset. To protect the sources of the leak, Lynch had 3D designer Marcus Kane create renders of the device based on those photos. Lynch has worked with Kane before on his Quest Pro leaks.

The casing is visually reminiscent of the Vive Flow and has pancake lenses like the latter, so the headset itself is rather slim.

Technically, however, the device is much more powerful: It works completely independently like the Vive Focus 3.

Lynch’s sources could not confirm exactly which chip it is. The most likely candidate is the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, which is rumored to be unveiled tonight. It could offer up to three times as much graphics performance as the last-generation chip.

HTC Vive “Flowcus” is a full 6-DoF headset, Lynch said. The Vive Focus 3 controllers are used as input devices. Vive Flow was also 6-DoF, but only offered a 3-DoF smartphone controller

Similar to the Pico 4, HTC’s new headset has four tracking cameras and an RGB sensor integrated. The HTC Vive “Flowcus” is supposed to offer color passthrough. The VR headset has two integrated LC displays with a resolution of 1,920 by 1,920 pixels that run at a maximum refresh rate of 120 hertz.

The HTC Vive “Flowcus” adopts perhaps the best feature of the HTC Vive Flow: a visual acuity adjustment directly on the lenses that lets you set your diopter number, eliminating the need to wear a headset or contact lenses.

Unlike the HTC Vive Flow, the lens distance can also be adjusted via a physical slider. For full VR immersion, you can attach a light shield to the casing.

One of the most interesting features of the HTC Vive “Flowcus” is its modular design: The rear part of the head mount, which also contains the battery, can be removed.

This allows the device to be used as particularly lightweight glasses for on the go, which can be connected to an external player (such as a smartphone or PC) via a USB-C cable (see cover picture). In this “glasses mode”, the temples can be folded down like real glasses. The sound comes from integrated stereo speakers.

According to Lynch’s sources, the device will be launched in early 2023 and will have a price tag for consumers.

Since HTC is not known for subsidizing hardware, the headset will probably not be cheap anyway. According to Lynch’s insiders, the price will be less than $1,000. HTC could unveil the device in January at CES 2023.

Heh, Kane and Lynch. Little gamer joke there. Holy crap, also Lucas Kains brother, TWO gaming inside jokes.

Anyway, this is the same guy who leaked the Quest Pro in April, https://uploadvr.com/project-cambria-apparent-detailed-renders/

The headset will be coming out early 2023, will have 1920x1920 displays, has a modular design, runs at 120hz, may back a powerful snapdragon processor, will be a think and comfy design, and will run at 120hz.

It seems like everyone's about to release much more powerful headsets (and Apple with their new one) all around the same time frame. I think it's safe to call the upcoming releases the second generation of VR 2.0 since these are all major successors to the popular previous gen models of VR hardware.

Vive headsets ere one of the favorites in the past, and I'm curious to see what kind of software they'll have ready to take advantage of this new headset. If they actually release it with specs this good for LESS than $1000 as the article says that will do a great amount in helping to sell the headset.

 

[Dr_Salt]

No OLED no buy.

 

[CamHostage]

Did we not prove with Quest 2 that somewhere around $299-399 was the magic price point for VR right now? The industry is racing upwards in a market that really only saw huge growth when the price came down. Yes, sure, the specs, the specs, but people didn't buy Quest 2 for the specs, they bought it because it was cheap and good and easy and fun.

"Less than $1000" says to me "Almost as much as $1000", and I'm out. PSVR2 is already testing people at $550.

 

[rofif]

lcd... yawn

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

You got my attention at standalone...so it's PCVR but wireless?

 

[Karak]

Man that seems like its going to be like 699.99 or above if they are fronting a new chip.
I get that they think consumer prices are that high, and apparently many companies do, its a rough pill to swallow unless dem lcd's are magical.

 

[MysticalChaos]

When are they going to make it lightweight though...

 

[pqueue]

nothing like pricing yourself out of the broader consumer market, especially as we enter a recession. - see Meta, and Apple (rumored) and now this.

 

[rofif]

Man that seems like its going to be like 699.99 or above if they are fronting a new chip.
I get that they think consumer prices are that high, and apparently many companies do, its a rough pill to swallow unless dem lcd's are magical.

HTC crap was always overpriced and they still value themselves like if they were vr leader…
If only psvr2 ran on pc…

 

[THE DUCK]

Barf, same resolution as everything else and lcd as well? For a $1000? Why?

 

[Karak]

HTC crap was always overpriced and they still value themselves like if they were vr leader…
If only psvr2 ran on pc…

Or if its good. Haven't got hands on yet to even value it at its cost.

 

[Synless]

HTC crap was always overpriced and they still value themselves like if they were vr leader…
If only psvr2 ran on pc…

I for the life of me can’t figure out why Sony doesn’t allow it… it feels so logical, and right.

 

[kiphalfton]

Prices trending upward...

Yeah totally awesome way to get more adopters and not kill this as a gaming medium

 

[BennyBlanco]

i really hope Valves headset is wireless too

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Prices trending upward...

Yeah totally awesome way to get more adopters and not kill this as a gaming medium

High-end older VR headsets are still expensive, and even the cheaper Quest 2 increased it's price. VR will be expensive for awhile yet,

 

[Reallink]

There is no reality where I'd pay $1000 for a headset with standard LCD displays in 2023. Not even in a $400 headset. The absolute bare minimum is mini-LED's with several hundred local dimming zones. 800:1 contrast ratios and milk gray black levels should have died decades ago, completely unacceptable today. HTC even bigger bozo's than I thought if they expect this to fly with $1000 HMD buyers. The resolution is also like 2 or 3 years outdated.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

There is no reality where I'd pay $1000 for a headset with standard LCD displays in 2023. Not even in a $400 headset. The absolute bare minimum is mini-LED's with several hundred local dimming zones. 800:1 contrast ratios and milk gray black levels should have died decades ago, completely unacceptable today. HTC even bigger bozo's than I thought if they expect this to fly with $1000 HMD buyers. The resolution is also like 2 or 3 years outdated.

I'm assuming the other tech in the headset is too expensive, and they had to go with LCDs to keep the price down overall.

 

[hlm666]

i really hope Valves headset is wireless too

The data mining has come across data that suggests valves next vr device is standalone. It seems to be the way everyone is going, pico 4, quest pro only recently released and we have pimax crystal and portal coming along with this. Has there even been a VR device announced or leaked recently that is not going the standalone route?

 

[Reallink]

I'm assuming the other tech in the headset is too expensive, and they had to go with LCDs to keep the price down overall.

Maybe if they were targeting $400 or $500, but completely immaterial at the projected price points ($800 - $1000). Much better displays would have only added $100 to the BoM at most, which is a meaningless amount to everyone already looking to spend $1000 on an HMD. They ain't targeting bargain or price sensitive shoppers up here, $1000 and $1100 are the same customer.

 

[AndrewRyan]

This looks like a cheaper Vive Focus 3. Maybe the Focus 4?

 

[Crayon]

Looks neat. I don't like the strap, though. I'd be interested to know what that feels like if it's not straight clamping onto your head.

 

[Fredrik]

Did we not prove with Quest 2 that somewhere around $299-399 was the magic price point for VR right now? The industry is racing upwards in a market that really only saw huge growth when the price came down. Yes, sure, the specs, the specs, but people didn't buy Quest 2 for the specs, they bought it because it was cheap and good and easy and fun.

"Less than $1000" says to me "Almost as much as $1000", and I'm out. PSVR2 is already testing people at $550.

Yup. We’re seeing the death of VR unfold right now. And I say that as a fan.

 

[ahtlas7]

No eye tracking on this thing (rumor)

 

[UltimaKilo]

Horrible specs for 2023 hardware

 

[PonyStation4]

Did we not prove with Quest 2 that somewhere around $299-399 was the magic price point for VR right now? The industry is racing upwards in a market that really only saw huge growth when the price came down. Yes, sure, the specs, the specs, but people didn't buy Quest 2 for the specs, they bought it because it was cheap and good and easy and fun.

"Less than $1000" says to me "Almost as much as $1000", and I'm out. PSVR2 is already testing people at $550.

The Quest 2 was sold at a loss. HTC is not a loss leader in this field, they need to make profit on each system sold.

 

[Waifus]

The fact that you don't need to wear your glasses is a really positive thing though. Does PSVR 2 have that feature?

 

[Orta]

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I for the life of me can’t figure out why Sony doesn’t allow it… it feels so logical, and right.

When Sony began the development of the PSVR2, they weren't thinking about PC at the time. You can bet on that. Now that they have a PC strategy, it will take time for everything to catch up.

Right now they can't market the PSVR2 as a PC headset without knowing how to market it and without guaranteeing that it can run PC games in the first place. Imagine marketing this and X% of games just don't work... Given the much higher price tag that MAY be something that is coming. PSVR launched for 400 and PSVR2 is launching for 550. That could just be Sony taking into account inflation, but you would think that the PSVR2 would have been the same price or cheaper if Sony wanted to reach a larger audience.

They may also be concerned with people buying it for PC games only and reducing the platform base on PS5, but to really justify the cost of even their own VR games as their budgets raise, this is kind of a no-brainer to enable PC support just like their console games are moving towards PC.

Ultimately it might be something they try to build specifically into their launcher but once you enable PC support, people will find a way to get it working on other games.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Right now Sony has a global product team, but what they really need to do is have a PC department, mobile department, and VR department.

You give someone the reigns to run with VR or bring back someone like Jason Rubin to head your VR department. This VR team should be responsible for integrating VR with PS5, but also ensuring that VR is a success on its own. In that vein they should be working with the PC department as well.

That PC department should be focused entirely on getting a launcher up and running on PC. Integrated PSN VR on PC as a major feature of that launcher. Getting major VR games into that launcher and the VR team should be working on getting those games ported to PS5. Games like half life alyx.

I think you just have a situation where the market is growing too fast for SIE to keep up with it and as a result, they make moves, but entirely too slowly.

This is why we point to Dreams or Bloodborne not being on PC, which should be major project initiatives. They just aren't a priority for SIE who is focused on PS5, but it COULD and SHOULD be the focus of a PC division.

That Sony hasn't announced VPs of VR, Mobile, or PC suggests they still aren't taking these markets seriously. I think it is why the PS5s UI is still garbage because their engineers are probably maxed out on projects.

 

[begotten]

VR is shovelware and will be for another decade.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Wireless and compatible with PC VR?

I'll keep an eye on it.....

 

[ChoosableOne]

I for the life of me can’t figure out why Sony doesn’t allow it… it feels so logical, and right.

Because they are afraid of reverse engineering stuff? Quest 2 working on Ps4-5 would be cool.

I like the idea of glass free headset, I hope it will be standart. First company that make lightweight/underwater goggle like headset under 400-500 dollars will win this VR race. Other than that, it won't be more popular than Oculus Quest 2(current winner).

VR is shovelware and will be for another decade.

Like Steam. I'm having fun with 40 plus VR games on my library. It's more than enough for relatively new device.

 

[Victor Omega]

Right in time to retaliate against Apple's alleged headset.

let them fight.gif
this gonna been good.gif

 

[FunkMiller]

Lots of headsets being announced, and rumoured.

Not many high profile games.

This is a problem.

 

[STARSBarry]

No eye tracking on this thing (rumor)

Making it pointless if true. Eye tracking a big deal which is why developer and Sonys new consumer headset VR2 include it. The fact the developer sets have it is one of the key reasons I haven't jumped onto VR yet as eye tracking is a huge game changer in terms of how HUD's and context sensitive selection will work in VR going forward.

 

[M1chl]

You got my attention at standalone...so it's PCVR but wireless?

Quest 2 is already wireless, if you have good wi-fi in your house. Only time I plug cable into it is when charging.

 

[Sakura]

I feel like VR tech has been kinda stagnant lately. It's just the samey specs we've already had for years now, except they put chips in them to do standalone VR, raising the price.

 

[CuNi]

I'd love for an Index 2 to either release or at least get announced.
In General I feel like SteamVR is way too underutilized with the precision it offers.
I get why people want "Standalone" version to get rid of the PC requirement and thus offer VR to a broader audience, but it feels like the tech just isn't there yet with how poorly tracking and image quality is compared to a PC powered experience.

 

[Rudius]

The lenses appear to be small, so probably a bad fov.

 

[nightmare-slain]

I'd love for an Index 2 to either release or at least get announced.
In General I feel like SteamVR is way too underutilized with the precision it offers.
I get why people want "Standalone" version to get rid of the PC requirement and thus offer VR to a broader audience, but it feels like the tech just isn't there yet with how poorly tracking and image quality is compared to a PC powered experience.

rumors are valve are working on a new headset to replace the Index but yeah it'd be nice to get a confirmation.

 

[Admerer]

We are really overdue for a new PCVR headset.
A PSVR2 PC headset equivalent with pancake lenses and wireless connection would be great, but right about now a updated Valve Index with higher resolution with inside out tracking will do.

The Pico 4 would have been great had it had a native PC display port connection.
The Pimax Crystal is too expensive, this headset is looking the same.

I guess a old HP G2 for $300 sale price will have to do for now.

 

[Kadve]

Oh yea HTC, they where relevant once. They are up there with VIA in terms of "companies being a shadow of its former self yet still hanging on" in my mind.

 

[Ozriel]

Vive headsets ere one of the favorites in the past,

Distant past.

They’ve struggled from flop to flop after the original Vive.

 

[zcaa0g]

That resolution is not progress.

 

[tommib]

Even the Switch has an OLED panel.

 

[64bitmodels]

1080p resolution on a "less than 1000 VR" headset (aka around 700-900) is not good at all lmao. LCD is cringe too. PSVR 2 as expensive as it is at least has great specs. and i always hated these "thin" vr headsets so the form factor isn't very appealing to me either.

Just wait for Valve's solution, whatever that may be

 

[01011001]

1080p resolution on a "less than 1000 VR" headset (aka around 700-900 is not good at all lmao. LCD is cringe too. PSVR 2 as expensive as it is at least has great specs.

Just wait for Valve's solution, whatever that may be

that's not 1080p... 1920x1920 is almost 80% more pixels than 1080p

 

[64bitmodels]

that's not 1080p... 1920x1920 is almost 80% more pixels than 1080p

i stand corrected

 

[yurinka]

Did we not prove with Quest 2 that somewhere around $299-399 was the magic price point for VR right now? The industry is racing upwards in a market that really only saw huge growth when the price came down. Yes, sure, the specs, the specs, but people didn't buy Quest 2 for the specs, they bought it because it was cheap and good and easy and fun.

"Less than $1000" says to me "Almost as much as $1000", and I'm out. PSVR2 is already testing people at $550.

Companies often sell hardware at a loss, but outside Meta or Microsoft most companies don't like to lose billions as Meta does with their VR and metaverse stuff, or as MS does with their gaming division approach.

So these devices like PSVR2 are also sold at a loss but not that much, so their price is higher. On top of that they use way more expensive tech than the one in Quest 2, so their price is even higher. On top of that, in recent months the inflation, components pricing and shipping costs skyrocketed, so their price became even higher.

VR, specially high end VR, keeps evolving but still isn't ready to go mainstream. Its tech still needs to evolve to offer a confortable pick up and play enough experience that doesn't produce stuff like dizziness and so on to some people, allows high end experience wireless and during long gameplay sessions, etc. And the technology still has to evolve to a point where the full VR package needed costs under $200.

The 2nd main generation of VR is starting, but I think it won't go mainstream until the 4th one or even the 5th. The companies behind them know it, they don't expect the current devices to be something that will go mainstream.

Right in time to retaliate against Apple's alleged headset.

This one seems slightly better than the previous Index, but barely has slightly better specs than Quest 2, which means that falls behind the the PSVR2 specs.

The pros of this model is that like Quest 2 it's standalone, and in this case also modular so I assume some parts may be upgradeable in the future (or not).

I think Apple will release a standalone device that will be much more expensive than PSVR2 but in exchange will also have better specs than PSVR2. So if premium VR is too expensive for most people, the Apple one I think will be even less affordable for them. But for some reason many Apple devices sell a shit ton of copies even if pretty overpriced when compared to similar ones, so who knows.

 

[MadchesterManc]

I guess a old HP G2 for $300 sale price will have to do for now.

Pretty much what I did several months back, the Reverb is a great headset for the price it can be found for now. Can't believe its been a few years and new high end VR headsets like this are still releasing with a lower resolution than it to be honest