In cursory: Oculus currently accounts for over one-half the market for mixed reality headsets, only HTC is pushing back with two new Vive VR headsets that sport advanced 5K displays and an expansive, 120-degree field of view. The only downside: they cost a pocket-size fortune for the privilege, especially if y'all demand the SteamVR base of operations station and the Vive controllers.

If we go by Counterpoint Enquiry numbers, Oculus captured around 53 percent of the mixed reality market in 2022, thanks in no minor part to the popularity of the Oculus Quest two, a headset that raked in five times as many pre-orders when compared to the beginning iteration. Its otherwise excellent value for the asking price of $399 is only marred by the requirement to use a Facebook account to use it, only a jailbreak to circumvent that is already underway.

Must read: Is Virtual Reality Missing Its Moment?

It'southward easy to look at the virtual reality space and come across how it could be missing on, as companies have yet to effigy how to bring VR technology into the mainstream. HTC couldn't be bothered to solve this puzzle, of course, at least judging past the announcement of not one, but two shiny new and expensive Vive headsets that are targeted at businesses, professionals, and loftier-finish enthusiasts.

The HTC Vive Pro two is a souped-upwardly version of the 2022 Vive Pro, itself a major upgrade -- specially in the ergonomics section -- over the original Vive headset. The most notable change is the more avant-garde brandish that comes in at a resolution of 5K, or 2448 by 2448 pixels per eye. Information technology also offers a 120 Hz refresh charge per unit compared to the ninety Hz on the Vive Pro, as well as a wider, 120-caste field of view.

HTC says the Vive Pro 2 is the first VR headset that supports Brandish Stream Compression (DSC), which is something you'd typically come across on loftier-terminate PC monitors.

In curt, it'due south a visually lossless depression-latency algorithm that makes more than efficient use of the bachelor bandwidth on DisplayPort and HDMI interfaces, enabling support for higher refresh rates and college resolutions, going as far as 8K@120 Hz and 10K@100 Hz on HDMI 2.i.

The upcoming DisplayPort 2.0 standard will allow for two 8K displays to run at 120 Hz from a single USB4 port, or a unmarried 16K display running at sixty Hz.

More importantly, the new display in the Vive Pro two is designed to minimize motility mistiness and virtually eliminate the 'screen door' event that plagued many previous-gen VR headsets.

In the ergonomics department, the Vive Pro 2 has a more than evenly distributed weight balance, adjustable head strap, a chop-chop adjustable sizing dial, and fine-adaptable interpupillary distance.

Information technology also integrates a pair of Hullo-Res Audio Certified headphones with 3D spatial sound, while assuasive you to use third-political party headphones of your choice. On that notation, yous can use all the accessories from the Vive SteamVR ecosystem, including the Vive Trackers, Vive Facial Tracker, Vive Controllers, Vive Wireless Adapter, and even Valve's Index controllers.

Those of you interested in the Vive Pro 2 can wait to pay $799 for the privilege of owning just the headset. If you need the total kit that includes the Base Station 2.0 and Vive controllers, you'll have to wait until August 4 and shell out $1,399.

HTC is running a promotion during the pre-order period (which lasts until May 31) that volition shave $l off the price of the headset if you sign up for the Vive newsletter.

Moving on to the new Vive Focus 3 headset, this is supposed to exist the successor to HTC'southward Vive Focus Plus, with a 5K display running at 90 Hz, 120-degree field of view, and a hot-swappable battery mounted on the dorsum. The pattern, however, is more refined on the Focus iii than the Pro 2, making it look like a truly enterprise-grade culling to the Oculus Quest two.

The Focus 3 is lighter than the Focus Plus thanks to the use of a magnesium alloy frame, and HTC claims this is five times more durable than the plastics that are typically used in virtually VR headsets. Theoretically, this should make it more suitable in business environments where it would come across a lot more apply and abuse.

Just like with the Oculus Quest ii, the primary selling indicate of the Vive Focus iii is the ability to do abroad with wires and relish the liberty of a cocky-contained, wireless VR solution. This is powered past Qualcomm's 5G-compatible Snapdragon XR2 chipset, which is too nowadays in the Oculus Quest ii and offers xi times the AI processing speed compared to previous solutions such as the Vive Focus Plus that relied on the Snapdragon 835.

The swappable, curved battery pack offers upwardly to 15 hours on a single charge and supports quick charging and then you can become from 0 to fifty percent in effectually 30 minutes, and a convenient LED indicator lets y'all know just how much juice is left in the headset. The ergonomics, at least on paper, are impressive: a fine-adjustable inter-pupillary altitude, a quick-release button, removable magnetic forepart and rear face gaskets, and open up-dorsum speakers with dual drivers so users tin can maintain some environmental awareness.

If you lot're worried about the audio leaking out of the open-back speakers, HTC has included a special sound privacy setting for the Vive Focus iii -- this care for privacy extends to all the precise tracking data collected by the headset, which is stored encrypted on the device. The redesigned controllers closely mimic those of the Oculus Quest 2, and the only remaining gap in functionality is paw tracking, just HTC says that will arrive via an upcoming software update.

If yous are looking to play games on the Vive Focus 3, you tin can also use Vive Business organisation Streaming to tether the device to a PC, and HTC is working on adding wireless streaming in the near time to come. Even so, the company really doesn't target the Vive Focus 3 at consumers, even equally it even so maintains the Viveport game shop. HTC Vive General Manager Dan O'Brien confirmed every bit much during the ViveCon event, explaining the company is interested in a different business model than its competitors.

Specifically, it's not interested in the Oculus model, which subsidizes the otherwise expensive hardware through the information collection that Facebook uses to monetize users by tracking their beliefs and preferences. On the other mitt, the HTC Vive Focus 3 is designed around a complete suite of software and services called Vive Business organization so that companies in manufacturing and teaching can use it to "find the return-on-investment, their savings on efficiencies, and time to market, within half dozen months of buying."

When yous consider the $1,300/£1,060 price of the Vive Focus 3, information technology makes fifty-fifty the Valve Alphabetize await comparatively inexpensive and further solidifies the notion that this isn't meant to exist an impulse purchase for a VR enthusiast, despite its impressive specs.

At this indicate, it's not clear if HTC is nonetheless interested in making more consumer-grade VR headsets such equally the Vive Cosmos, but O'Brien leaves some room for that possibility. He notes, "the consumer story is however yet to be told from HTC, but that'southward something to be told in the future." Looking at the VR headset market equally a whole, it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to see the hesitation, equally the ii most pop options seem to come from Oculus and Sony, who are both subsidizing their VR solutions in the promise of making more money down the line from user data or paid content strategies.