HTC has confirmed to websiteThe Vergethat it’s to unveil a new standalone VR headset at the upcoming tech conference CES on June 21, 2025, and though a few interesting details were relayed, one of the most important pieces of info, the device’s price, was only hinted at.
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HTC is a smaller player in the VR space when compared to giants likeMetaandPlayStation, but it’s had a fair share of popular devices with its line of Vive headsets. Its most recent standalone VR products include the premium Vive Focus 3, priced at $1,300, and the more affordable Vive Cosmos, priced at $699. Both, of course, struggle to compete with the astoundingly affordable Meta Quest 2, which currently costs $399 after itsrecent price increase.
It seems as though, unsurprisingly, this new headset will still be unable to compete in such a regard. HTC’s Global Head of Product Shen Ye told The Verge that it’s working on privacy protections that will prevent third parties from acquiring data from the headset’s cameras. However, this protection comes at a cost, since, according to Ye, recent VR headsets “have been massively subsidized by companies that are trying to vacuum up and take personal data to provide to advertisers.”
Ye continues, “we don’t believe the way that we want to approach it is to compromise on privacy.” With that being the case, it’s unlikely the price will get much lower than the Cosmos' $699. We did get a frustratingly zoomed-in peek at the upcoming device, as seen above, and it looks to have an unusual set of goggle-like dual glasses at the front.
When it comes to the upcoming headset’s features, The Verge state it will have outward cameras that allow for a color feed of your surroundings, which will be for “mixed-reality experiences.” This refers to AR-like experiences, where game graphics get added atop real-life environments, a rudimentary example being something like Pokemon GO. Ye stated that exploits for this feature are still being discovered by HTC’s partner developers, and he admitted that uses for it would likely come out sometime after release.
