htc-vivecon-2021-teaser — Image courtesy HTC

Report: HTC to Announce Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2 Next Week

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May 4, 2021

A report from Protocol, citing undisclosed “company documents” from HTC, claims that the company will reveal two new headsets during the VIVECON event next week: Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2.

Following HTC’s teases about the upcoming reveal of “game-changing VR headsets,” Protocol claims the company plans to reveal the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition and Vive Pro 2 headsets. The publication cites “company documents,” and sightings of the headsets on the European ecommerce site Alzashop, apparently now removed. The report says the listings indicated both headsets could launch by May 20th.

Pricing was also shown on the listings, with the Vive Focus 3 set at €1,474 ($1,771), and the Vive Pro 2 at €842 ($1,012), though headsets leaked through similar listings in the past haven’t always been right about the price or release date.

Update (May 5th, 2021): Asked about the report, an HTC spokesperson tells Road to VR, “we do not comment on rumor and speculation.”

At a minimum, the information sounds sensible. Vive Focus is HTC’s standalone headset line. While the company never formally launched a ‘Vive Focus 2’, it may simply be considering the Vive Focus Plus enough of a sequel to the original to jump to a Vive Focus 3.

The claim of a Vive Pro 2 is interesting, and could mark a reversal for HTC. The company was distancing itself from its Vive Pro PC VR headsets in favor of Vive Cosmos, though Cosmos has had a very tough time competing with the latest generation of headsets. A Vive Pro 2 could signal that HTC is leaning back into the SteamVR ecosystem (whereas Vive Cosmos was the first PC VR headset from the company with its own inside-out tracking system).

Quest 3S Review – Value That Can't Be Beat, With the Same Rough Edges as Its Siblings

If the Protocol report is correct, we got our first clear glimpse of one of these two headsets from HTC earlier this week:

In both cases we’d be curious to know what HTC will do on the controller front. Vive Focus Plus used ultrasonic controllers that weren’t well regarded in terms of tracking performance. Meanwhile, most of the company’s PC VR headsets have relied on the quite dated Vive ‘wand’ controllers. Even if the headsets are great, the controllers are an important selling point, and we’d hope to see a competitive offering from HTC.

It seems we’ll know one way or another soon enough, as HTC is expected to announce its new headsets on May 11th next week during its Vivecon event.

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I don’t think they would charge 1,771 for a standalone headset. This report sounds kind of bogus.
- byteframe
  
  It’s within the realm of possibility that it could cost over a grand, thereby instantly failing in the market.
  - Ad
    
    I can’t imagine the level of community rage that would come out if this is accurate.
    - Hymen Cholo
      
      If the PC headset offers significant technical upgrades — wide FOV, better resolution, oled screen, high refresh rate and clear lenses in a compact design, I think the 1k pricetag isn’t too outrageous if it includes controllers. 1700 for a standalone would be a fail though.
      - mirak
        
        I don’t see why, because Samsung and Apple sell 1200€ phones after all, and VR is still new tech.
        
        Also the Vive Pro Eye sells for 1400€ not even counting wireless, and you require a computer.
        
        But for 1700€ it would have to be better on every point.
      - Hymen Cholo
        
        I don’t think anyone is going to pay 1300 extra dollars to stay away from the Quest 2. Those are two entirely different consumers. At 1700 dollars it will only be for the die hard VR people with money to burn.
      - Ad
        
        It would have to have almost non existent tech for it to make sense for any consumer of any kind.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        You mean at 1700 dollars it will only be for the die hard VR CONSUMERS with money to burn, except it’s not directed at consumers but at businesses and they tend not to bother with 1700 dollar.
      - Charles
        
        For it to be successful at that price, it would have to be inarguably much, much, much better than any other current consumer headset.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Except it’s not oriented for consumers. Yes consumers buy the original Vive Pro, but that doesn’t make them consumer headsets.
      - Ad
        
        There’s no way it would be that far beyond an Index/G2, or that its controller would be better than knuckles. I doubt it would have any of those features too besides resolution.
      - mepy
        
        We’ll see, I sure hope it has new and better controllers and better screens than the Reverb G2. Actually even with the same screens as the HP Reverb G2 and somewhat upgraded controllers, but also Wireless it will sell.
    - Dragon Marble
      
      Guys, how many times do we have to be reminded that is is for business, which means it would make no sense for regular consumers to buy them. The headset themselves aren’t going to be worth that much. Those are basically service fees the businesses pay upfront.
      - Ad
        
        Bullshit, they marketing this in a way that clearly was baiting consumers. They need to set it straight now if this is true. Otherwise they’ll have nothing but hate from half the industry.
      - Blaexe
        
        That’s HTC for you. They literally did the same with the accessories earlier. Consumer marketing, business focus. It’s dumb, but it’s HTC.
        
        It’s people’s own fault to get their hopes up over and over again.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Please direct me to where they market it in a way that clearly was baiting consumers? And they don’t get hate from half the industry, as most people who actually paid a little attention to the promotion of Vivecon already knew it was business oriented. If it had, it would have had at least a few gamedevelopers giving a presentation. People just HOPED they would release a new consumer headset.
    - mepy
      
      I think that’s unfair. HTC Vive never claimed they had a Quest 2 competitor, actually they had pointed out that their standalone was not going to be a Quest 2 competitor. Their tweets had hints it was a business headset.
      
      And their Vive Focus series never was a gaming headset. So this idea that HTC Vive was going to release a Quest 2 competitor was something some people constructed on their own.
      
      The Vive Pro 2 does seem to be a “game-changing” headset if the rumors of the specifications are correct, it would however only compete with the Quest 2 for the PCVR gamers that can afford to spend a lot more on a headset, meaning the segment that have bought the Valve Index.
      - Ad
        
        Horseshit. They know consumers think they’re releasing a $700 index style quest.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        No they don’t, they never suggested anything they would release a consumer oriented quest. Hell they even said their next headset wouldn’t be a Quest competitor. So if consumers THINK it, it’s down to the illogical fantasy consumers have, not the reality of business.
  - Kisato
    
    If it’s true the VIVE Focus 3 would be targeting enterprise and given it’s sleek and thin-looking design it’s understandable if it would be priced US$1,000+ if it has more features (e.g. eye-tracking). This is not a consumer-oriented device so we can’t view it from a consumer-targeting pricing scheme.
  - mepy
    
    The Index sold into a 16,4% market share at a $1000, so yeah I don’t think it will be an instant fail. Although the Quest 2 will sell more there is a real market for a propper PCVR headset – especially with a WiGig wireless adapter that can transmit high resolution.
- Scott Blanchard
  
  The reporter, Janko Roettgers, is legit and well respected in tech media.
  - Ad
    
    That standalone price though.
Niclas Johansson

Just take a look at the list of presentation titles of this conference on their website. EVERY. SINGLE. SESSION. is aimed at different aspects of enterprise/professional use of VR. HTC clearly doesn’t give a damn about the “community” (gamers/VR enthusiasts) but have instead pivoted completely towards B2B. I hope they have the courage to explicitly put the final nail in that consumer coffin in their announcements. I for one am looking forward to the B2B stuff!

(I get it, they still want consumers in China. But hey just be professional about it and handle that messaging in Chinese/on channels exclusive to that market…)
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  Well, the current vive line IS already directed at B2B, and Cosmos is still semi consumer. Only the original vive was mostly consumer level.
  What does it matter is they are B2B oriented, as long as it works with SteamVR who cares, if you can afford the Pro 2 ofcourse.
  - mirak
    
    people buy 900€ GPU, of course they can
    
    and in phones of course
- TonyVT SkarredGhost
  
  Yes, it’s their expertise and since they can’t compete with Oculus money, this seems a good choice to me
immersion mechanics

Vive Pro 2 sounds very interesting. Any involvement from valve following their collaboration with HP?

Higher resolution displays with upgraded lenses, SteamVR tracking and touch-style controllers (industry standard layout) could be a great proposition
- Bob
  
  It would be interesting if things appeared to be like the old days again; Valve partnering with HTC to deliver an astonishing headset!
  - immersion mechanics
    
    We can only dream….
- Yen
  
  As a Pimax 8Kx owner, I hope they can deliver something with the same specs, but without eyestrain.
  - immersion mechanics
    
    As an Index owner, I hope for all the positive qualities of the Index dual compound lens, but with the glare issue resolved. The geometry stability, clarity and usable field of view is outstanding on index.
- CaryMGVR
  
  Yeah, the PCVR side sounds promising.
  But 1700 beans for an AI2 …??
  I dunno, man ….
  - mepy
    
    The price actually isn’t so incredible. The Oculus Quest 2 sells for $800 to businesses and they also have to pay $180 annually. So almost $1200 for two years.
    
    And it’s not $1700 for the Vive Focus 3, as that’s with European sales tax included (which are deductible by businesses in the European countries), so the price is closer to $1400 both in the US and for European businesses, that’s not miles off the Quest 2 at the cost of $1200 over two years.
    
    Also the Vive Focus 3 will have better specifications than the Quest 2 and Vive has more business oriented software because Vive actually invests in developing business oriented software, something Facebook doesn’t because there is no profit in not being able to collect the data of businesses, and not colleting and selling data that’s outside Facebooks core corporate profile.
Scott Blanchard

There’s an anon on reddit that does contract work with HTC who essentially leaked out this info a full day before the Protocol story hit. He said there would be a new Vive Pro and a new Vive Focus. He had more details about the Pro. Said it was LCD panels, higher res and higher refresh rate and 120 degrees horizontal FOV. Lighthouse tracking.
- mtwts
  
  Where’s the leak? I checked r/oculus, r/virtualreality, r/vive, r/vive_vr.
  
  I’m interested about the resolution and whether we will get something better than HP Reverb.
  - Blaexe
    
    In the comments in r/vive. There’s no proof though, so take it with a grain of salt.
    - mtwts
      
      I couldn’t find any mention of anyone doing contract work leaking anything, only some random redditor “iEatAssVR” (very mature btw) making claims without saying they work for HTC.
      - mepy
        
        Yeah, that’s the “source.” I question the credibility also.
      - mtwts
        
        Which party is aware of resolution? I only see claim of 120Hz by this redditor but no listed resolution.
      - mepy
        
        He doesn’t specify what resolution, just that it’s “way higher res” than the HP Reverb:
        
        “If that’s actual 120 degrees HORIZONTAL FOV and lcd panels are 2160×2160@90hz it’s game-on. Index horizontal FOV is only around 108 w oversized fresnel lenses pushing eyelashes and 5 degree canted. This may be the index 2 we’ve been waiting for.”
        
        And the reply of the source is:
        
        “Nope, its way higher res and 120hz.”
      - mepy
        
        The source also says: “It uses lighthouses, don’t think wireless will work on launch tho to accommodate for the higher bandwidth required because of higher res and 120hz. I didn’t ask about it.”
      - mepy
        
        Seems confirmed in an other comment on reddit:
        
        “According to rumors from NDA leakers, 120hz lcd, 120 degree FOV, and much higher resolution than index.”
        
        Source:
        
        “A comment on a YouTube video where the guy claimed to be talking to someone under an NDA that HTC is in talks with. It’s not much but it’s not like those specs are super top secret show stoppers I’m sure we will know soon enough for sure.
        
        If true it’s basically an index 2.0.”
      - mtwts
        
        Thanks. Okay so the source just misunderstood the question and when they said it was way higher res they meant in comparison to 1440×1600 pixels in Index, not the 2160×2160 from Reverb. If the combined horizontal resolution is around 4000 pixels, it means the per eye can’t be as high as 2500, so pretty sure it’s 2160.
        
        Yawn.
      - mepy
        
        Yeah, the 2160×2160 panels in the HP Reverb are 114° and 90Hz, at 4,320px horizontal. I don’t think there are any other available screens that can be used, but we’ll see.
- mepy
  
  I read that, he is also claiming the Vive Pro 2 has much better resolution than the HP Reverb G2. But there is no way to verify if he is just talking bullshit or not.
  - Scott Blanchard
    
    I think he was confusing total resolution and per-eye resolution. Without foveated rendering (and possibly even a higher bandwidth displayport protocol), no current GPU is going to be able to push “much better resolution” than 2160×2160 per eye.
    - mepy
      
      My instinct was that the source wasn’t very credible, but I also think HTC Vive is aiming to be the best headset out there, and that probably does mean better resolution than the HP Reverb G2.
      
      I don’t know what resolution GPU’s can do. But ff the Adreno 650 in the Quest 2 can do it at the near 2K resolution, then a real GPU should easily be able to do 4K resolution. It would come down to the complexity of the 3D world rendered in games, such things can be software adjusted.
      
      The Vive Pro 2 is a professional headset so it would probably be for people that can afford something comparable to a Nvidia 2080-3090 GPU.
      
      The Varjo 3 headset has substantially higher resolution at dual 2880×2720 (90Hz), and the Xtal at dual 3840×2160 (75Hz), also the Pimax 8K+ at 3840×2160 (110Hz).
      
      Also keep in mind the Vive Pro 2 likely will feature eye-tracking so foveated rendering isn’t impossible, and until games support that the Hz could be set to 90hz instead of 120Hz.
      
      So I think if Vive was able to source panels that have better resolution than the HP Reverb G2 and that also fit into a headset, then they will have.
      
      The question however is what manufacturer makes such hypothetical VR panels?
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Just to be blunt, but even the GPU in the original quest would be able to drive 4k resolution, DEPENDING on the complexity of the 3D world.
        
        The resolution itself isn’t the problem, it’s the 3D world and detail. People expect Red Dead Redemption 2 on ultra graphics, not PS2.
        
        If the Vive Pro 2 is really 820 euro’s (as was posted on that sale site), then you can count it NOT having eyetracking, and I even think it might be headset only, no tracking stations (if it’s lighthouse based) for that price.
      - mepy
        
        Sure, but if e.g. you just want to watch VR video and VR images of the real world, then you don’t really need a super good GPU. Some games require a lot from the GPU, e.g. large open world games such as flight simulators or No Mans Sky, other games are designed with the thought of GPU limitations in mind.
        
        I don’t think the Eye tracker itself is a very expensive technology, and it would not make sense for Vive to ditch eye tracking now that they have invested so much into the platform and into companies developing software for it. I think the Vive Pro 2 will have eye tracking.
- Charles
  
  If it’s LCD, I’m out.
  - Andrew Jakobs
    
    Good luck finding a new headset that will have OLED, so if you really want a new headset you will have to buy one that had LCD, otherwise you will have to keep using the current headset you have now.
    - Charles
      
      There’s no question there will eventually be a new headset with OLED (or equivalent). The only question is how soon. Sony and Samsung both specialize in OLED displays. Sony has already announced they have a new headset on its way, and Samsung is very likely to be working on one.
      
      And if we’re lucky, the Vive Pro 2 will be 4K OLED.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        There is no word on Sony using OLED for their PSVR2, they also have a major interest in JDi which has special lowlatency high PPI LCD displays, not OLED.
      - Charles
        
        Not sure what your source is on JDi, but given that Sony specializes in manufacturing displays, including OLED, I see no reason they would buy someone else’s panels.
        
        All the educated guesses on specs I’ve seen guess that it will be OLED. And Sony has stated that it “enhances everything” and “enables a high-fidelity visual experience”.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Sony doesn’t specialize in manufacturing displays, at least not for mobile devices, only large panels. Even the OLED’s they used in the original PSVR (or original PS Vita) were from Samsung. Sony Mobile displays merged into JDi back in 2011..
      - Charles
        
        Sony does manufacture OLED microdisplays, many of which are specifically for VR:
        https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/products/microdisplay/oled/product.html
        
        https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=advancedsearch&order=panel_id&brand_family=124&application=82
        
        They also manufacture mobile device displays, though it appears they only manufacture LCDs for mobile devices (other than microdisplays).
        https://www.panelook.com/modelsearch.php?op=advancedsearch&order=panel_id&brand_family=124&application=133
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Have you checked any of the panelook site? they are all from 2011 or earlier, so from before the merging into JDi.
        
        And you do know microdisplays (0.5″/0.7″) aren’t the best for use with wide FOV VR, they are just too small. It’s what they used back in the days, and it only got about 40 degree, ok, those were 4:3, but even with 16:9 with microdisplays it’ll be hard to get the lenses to support higher FOV, like 90+. That’s why all headsets available now are using larger displays.
        But only time will tell..
      - Charles
        
        Hmm, looks like the LCD listings are from 2011 or before. But a lot of the OLED listings are recent, and Sony’s OLED Microdisplay page is current.
        
        From what I’ve read, microdisplays make it harder to get as high of an FOV, but it’s not impossible. For example, here’s a headset that was in-development 5 years ago that used microdisplays and had a 110 degree FOV:
        https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/38kcto/tried_the_emagin_2k2k_headset_yesterday_higher/
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        It’s a shame eMagin never went through with that headset, but I’ll bet it was due to cost. Because the way they use the lenses it’s a very costly setup, but it is a better setup than we have with all the other setups, as you can set the focus per eye and make the image really sharp. I still remember it from my VFX1. Being able to also set the focus is a way to decrease motion sickness, as one of the culprits is unfocused imagery, try running around with prescription glasses that are not for your eyes, you’ll get sick pretty soon.
        
        All in all, I just hope we’ll get nice new headsets, and I personally don’t care how big they are (ok, shouldn’t be much bigger than a Vive Pro) but it should certainly have a good headstrap with tighteningknob, as that was one of the things I really hated about the original Vive or my DK2.
    - Charles
      
      The only reason I would get a new headset would be to upgrade or to replace a damaged headset.
      
      A new headset with LCD contrast is not an upgrade – it’s a “sidegrade”. If my Odyssey+ stops working, I’ll get another Odyssey+ from eBay until a real upgrade is released.
Holdup

We should have a company that create a standalone headset that can compete with oculus quest 2 and cost around the same or a little bit more.
- 3872Orcs
  
  Well HTC is not that company. It’s impossible for them to compete on price against Facebook, we need a bigger player for that with similar resources as Facebook.
  - mirak
    
    they can compete on not selling your datas
- mepy
  
  I don’t think any company can compete on hardware price with Facebook subsidised headsets. It would have to be like a subsidised Google headset, which would be same privacy problem really, also Google abandoned hardware VR.
  
  Eventually though VR technologies will be easily accessible for all companies, driven by companies such as Qualcomm and Chinese companies that are competing for the Chinese market where Facebook is banned.
  
  Eventually VR tech will be like phone tech is now compared to the iPhones initial launch, components and software easily available for many large tech companies. But it will probably be years before all the major tech companies are releasing their generic VR headsets with the same technology as the Quest 2/3, and even then they may still be a bit more expensive.
3872Orcs

Interesting! One of those might be my next headset.

Does the Vive Pro 2 have wireless capability? If it has I probably will sell my Index and get it instead. If Vive Pro 2 is wired I’ll consider getting the Focus 3.
- Shy Guy
  
  Vive Pro has optional wireless capability, so it’d be a major step back if Vive Pro 2 doesn’t. My guess is they’ll upgrade the Vive Wireless adapter to support the Pro 2.
  - Andrew Jakobs
    
    Except sadly the wireless adaptor is just way to expensive IMHO, it’s the cost of a whole Quest.
    - mepy
      
      Yeah, the wireless adapter is a bit on the expensive side.
    - mirak
      
      it’s the cost of not selling your data to facebook, better image quality and better latency
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Oh please stop with the Facebook nonsense. And I doubt if the lenses/displays of the Vive Pro are better than those of the Quest 2.
      - mirak
        
        Don’t change the subject.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        It’s actually you who changed the subject..
      - mirak
        
        Not at all, I corrected your comparison.
      - Elite-Force_Cinema
        
        http://disq.us/p/2gxrp41
        
        And why are you compalining about the headset being unmatched of your personal data just so that Sony can steal your data and sells your data to third-party companies just for advertising and nothing else? Are you trying to say you want to force Sony, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon to go out of business for good just so that you can force them to not for them to do better at treating their customers with respect but to force them to get all of their employees to go bankrupt and homeless instead simply because of this dumb shit reason you came up? Cause it sounds like you ARE wnating to force data stealing companies to go bankrupt and out of business forever, you privacy fantard!!!!!
TechPassion

Could be short rain, from big cloud.
MosBen

Well, doesn’t seem to be the Quest competitor that I was hoping for. The Vive Pro 2 might be the Index competitor that I’m hoping for, but that’s a big if.
MosBen

It is mind boggling that people still, after all this time, don’t understand the difference between the business and consumer market. Yes, $1,700 is too much for consumers to spend on a mobile VR headset. But it’s not too much for businesses to spend because part of that cost is a bunch of services offered to the business to help make the headset useful to their work. It’s not some kind of fail for a company to target a different sector than the one in which you buy stuff to play with in your house. Don’t get me wrong, I WANT a Quest 2 competitor that competes on both hardware and price, but complaining about the price of a business-focused headset is like complaining that Freightliner makes their semitrucks too expensive for consumers.
- CaryMGVR
  
  We all understand that, of course.
  But even with all the extra service goodies thrown in,
  what the hell does this thing do that justifies a $1700 pricetag …??
  - MosBen
    
    First, I don’t think that most of the people complaining about the price as “fail” really do understand that, since $1,700 is not wildly out of step with the other enterprise-focused HMDs that we’ve seen. And it is precisely the “extra service goodies” that justifies, or at least they hope that it does, the $1,700 price tag. It will presumably be based on current top end mobile hardware, and it will provide support services to help make it useful to the businesses that use it. Granted, they’ll need to convince businesses that VR can be useful to their work, but that’s no different than what any other enterprise VR company needs to do.
    
    The bottom line is that for a new product with current hardware targeted at enterprise clients, this is a very normal price. Whether it succeeds is anyone’s guess, but that will have more to do with the usefulness of VR to companies than HTC setting some unreasonably high price.
sfmike

Prepare for disappointment as a consumer.
mepy

I do wonder which headset we are seeing, the Vive Pro 2 or the Vive Focus 3? Maybe it’s both, one of them looks more curved than the other?
- Blaexe
  
  We very clearly see the Vive Focus. Camera based inside-out tracking and active cooling – these are dead giveaways.
  - mepy
    
    I’m not so sure, the bottom image could be of the Vive Pro 2, it seems more curved than the top image. The Vive Pro 1 has two front facing cameras for pass-through, these two cameras could be for the same reason, and for hand tracking.
    
    Vents could be useful for both headsets, all headsets do run hot and the vent could be to lower temperatures for the wearer and thus to avoid fog on the lenses. The Nose part seems to have a connection for the lip-tracking module, but they probably have the lip tracking for both headsets.
    - Blaexe
      
      Passthrough cameras are straight on the front, these are on the bottom corners for tracking. It’s the Focus.
      - mepy
        
        That’s true for previous Vive’s, but e.g. the Quest has it’s pass-through cameras kind of down facing. It could still be for hand tracking cameras, or it could be they are not using base stations anymore.
      - Blaexe
        
        Quest doesn’t have dedicated Passthrough cameras, they just happen to use the tracking cameras for Passthrough.
        
        If you want high quality Passthrough, you’ll want dedicated cameras straight on the front of the headset next to each other, just like on the Vive Pro or Index. It makes zero sense to use downward facing cameras for Passthrough if it has lighthouse tracking.
      - mepy
        
        It makes sense if you want to incorporate hand tracking.
      - Blaexe
        
        Passthrough and hand tracking are not the same things. Handtracking through Computervision is hard and cutting edge tech – even Facebook is struggling with it. If HTC wants hand tracking, they’ll use dedicated tech by third parties like ultraleap.
    - Scott Blanchard
      
      I think so too. That “storm trooper inspired” nose cutout is not there just to make this look like a pair of modern sleek ski goggles, I believe its there to facilitate a facial gesture tracking module.
Andrew Jakobs

A Vive Pro 2 could signal that HTC is leaning back into the SteamVR ecosystem

I don’t think the shown images are from the Focus 3, but from the Pro, and I don’t think HTC will go back to using Lighthouse by default, maybe just like the Cosmos as an addon, but I highly doubt that. I even think Lighthouse is not gonna be used by any new headset in the near future.
- mirak
  
  Vive Pro 2 was listed at 842€.
  They wouldn’t sell a Vive Pro 2 complete kit for less than the Cosmos, Cosmos Elite, and of course, than the Vive Pro 1.
  So 842€ is more likely the cost of the headset only, which means it would still work with lighthouse.
  - mepy
    
    I’m not so sure, the Vive Cosmos Elite is listed at €1029. It’s possible they have found ways to lower hardware costs for the Vive Pro 2, so that could mean it can be sold with base stations and controllers for 842€. That’s probably priced without the wireless adapter though.
    - mirak
      
      I really doubt it, I wouldn’t take the risk to have any hope for that xD
- Scott Blanchard
  
  Yes, agree that this looks more like a Pro line than a Focus line HMD. Obviously we can see what appears to be inside out tracking cameras, so if that’s the default mode but it also is capable of utilizing lighthouse, thats a killer feature to have. Combine that with Reverb G2 level LCD panels, 120Hz (although I’m fine at 90Hz) and most especially, Wide FOV lenses (at least 120 degrees HORIZONTAL without distortion) and Index class audio, would appear to be the Index 2 we’ve been waiting for.
- Blaexe
  
  Vive Pro 2 will use lighthouse and the images show the Focus 3. It makes the most sense overall.
CaryMGVR

Almost $2000 for a frakkin’ AI2 …. lol
For that kinda money, that thing better sing & dance & cook me dinner!
I wonder what it does that they will say justifies the $1700 pricetag ..??
- dk
  
  it might be a lynx equivalent ….but the price sounds quite a bit off to me
  
  as far as I can see …..the focus is $600 in USA and 877 euro($1058) in EU ….and if u use it for enterprise in USA it’s required to pay $200 for enterprise business warranty and services
  so it might be $1500 for consumers or something like that in EU maybe and less in USA something like $1200….but we’ll see
TonyVT SkarredGhost

Probably they return to the Vive Pro SteamVR-tracked headset because if you want to use inside-out tracking, you use the Focus 3 over Wi-fi…
LazyFox

I want to know: Is it wireless (or can I just reuse my Vive wireless adapter) and how does it compare with the Index?
I’d like to upgrade my Vive Pro.
- mepy
  
  That’s the $1000 question, looks like we will have to wait until Tuesday to get any answers.
  - mirak
    
    Wednesday
    - mepy
      
      Nope, Tuesday May 11th.
Petr Špiller

I will gladly pay 1000 Euros for SteamVR headset if the hardware and comfort level is on par with the Reverb G2. I have the G2 and the WMR is driving me nuts
Bob Smith

Oh look, another Facebook fan!

“”I want to be your product, Zuck! I Sell me to the highest bidder, I don’t care! Data-rape me all night long, baby! I’m yours!”
BonWOLF

Update (May 5th, 2021): Asked about the report, an HTC spokesperson tells Road to VR, “we do not comment on rumor and speculation.” YOU JUST DID! “)