Vive Comos, HTC’s upcoming PC VR headset, is confirmed to launch at some point in Q3 2019, meaning any time between now and September 30th. While the company has been tight-lipped on the headset’s pricing and exact launch date, as well as a few remaining specs, major UK retailer Argos seems to have not only listed Vive Cosmos, but appended the specific price of £699.99.
Update (August 3rd, 2019): An HTC spokesperson provided us with this statement regarding Argos’ price info:
“We’re aware a price was listed by mistake on a retail partner website. We look forward to sharing more details with you about Cosmos soon, but have no further comment at this time.”
The original article follows below.
We’ve reached out to HTC to confirm the price, and will update when/if we hear back.
As of 11:30 AM CEST, the page was replaced with an error message indicating that “this product hasn’t been released yet.” You can still check out the listing via a web archive; the price is also visible through the retailer’s search function.
The only supposedly novel piece of information to come from the listing was the purported price, as it was shown out of stock and without any specific release date.
However the headset is priced though, it’s important to keep in mind that international pricing rarely converts directly, meaning Vive Cosmos likely won’t cost the exact USD or EUR equivalent of those £700 ($850, €760). As a point of comparison, the Oculus Rift S currently sells for £400 in the UK, €449 in the Eurozone, and $400 in the US.
Moreover, European pricing typically includes the Value-Added Tax (VAT), which fluctuates from country to country, whereas US pricing is most often listed without state and federal taxes applied until the time of purchase. If the £700 price point is to be believed, it could put the US price at $700, of course not including any eventual taxes paid at checkout.
It’s also possible that Argos jumped the gun with a placeholder price, however the level of specificity as well as the retailer’s standing as a premier high street shop casts some doubt on this. Considering HTC was quick to strike down claims that Vive Cosmos would sell for $900, stating that the figure was “incorrect (and high),” we’ll be interested to see whether HTC squashes the Argos’ supposed price as well.