When HTC had formally announced its Vive Pro virtual reality headset during the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that was held in the city of Las Vegas in Nevada more than a couple of months ago, it did not reveal any further details regarding the pricing. Well, the Taiwan based tech giant has just revealed through its official blog that the Vive Pro will come with a price of $799 and is set to start shipping on April 5th. Also, those who want to preorder the VR headset can already do so now.
Some may notice that the $799 pricing is the same with that of the original HTC Vive VR headset that was released back in 2016. But it is worth noting that the $799 pricing of the Vive Pro will not include the needed controllers and base stations. It is quite possible that HTC is sort of banking on the idea that fans of its Vive lineup of VR products already are in possession of those controllers and base stations, and those looking to buy the Vive Pro are doing so in order to upgrade from the earlier Vive model.
Based on the pricing’s inclusions (or lack thereof), one can not be blamed for thinking that the Vive Pro VR headset is simply a more expensive model. Of course, they would not be wrong to think that way, but considering the improvements of the tech seen on the Vive Pro, the pricing may be a bit justified. After all, HTC’s newest VR headset offering comes with a 2,800 by 1,600 pixel resolution, which amounts to a 78 percent increase as compared to the original Vive’s specification. Also, the Vive Pro features a more comfy design, plus enhanced headphones.
As for the original Vive VR headset, HTC is now offering it a more affordable price of $499, which means that this model is now a hundred bucks cheaper than it was before. Bear in mind that this pricing already includes the controllers, base stations, a two month subscription to VivePort and Fallout 4 VR.
Meanwhile, for those who do not particularly mind HTC’s exploits in the world of virtual reality, they might want to be reminded that despite the phone maker’s Pixel team getting absorbed by Google and the head of its mobile division resigning, the company is still producing new handsets. There is even speculation that its upcoming flagship, the HTC U12, will be making its debut some time next month. Rumored specs include a 5.99 inch QHD+ display screen, a dual camera set up on the rear side (consisting of a 16 megapixel camera and a 12 megapixel camera), an 8 megapixel selfie shooter on the front side, a Snapdragon 845 chip set (of course), up to 6 gigabytes of RAM, up to 256 gigabytes of onboard memory, an IP68 rating for water proofing capabilities, Edge Sense 2.0 (more on this later), HTC Face Unlock technology, a 3,420 mAh battery, and Google’s Android 8.0 Oreo mobile operating system, plus Sense 10.
To explore other devices, feel free to browse more phones and plans from HTC at Wirefly now.
