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| HTC plans to release mixed reality glasses to compete with the Meta glasses |
HTC has announced plans to release new virtual reality and augmented reality glasses next month in an effort to regain its footing in the market.
The Taiwanese company did not reveal any specifications for the glasses that will be presented at the Consumer Electronics Show CES 2023 on the fifth of January next year. But Shen Yi, head of global products at HTC, spoke exclusively to The Verge about what the company is trying to achieve with the new design, which delivers a small, lightweight, full-featured VR/AR headset.
"It's about taking all these advances that we've made, not only in terms of design but also in terms of technology, and offering something interesting and attractive to consumers," said Yeh.
The unnamed glasses look like glasses with both front and side cameras, according to images HTC shared with The Verge. Buyers can use the glasses for gaming, entertainment, sports, and even "some more complex use cases": tools for work and productivity, Yee said.
The goggles will have a two-hour battery life, be fully autonomous, and support six-degree joysticks and hand tracking. One of the main features of the glasses is an external camera that streams color video onto the user's screen, enabling a mixed reality experience.
The Verge notes that this mixed reality option is still experimental, and when asked about HTC's goals, Yi points to the company's ongoing relationship with developers, saying that the best use cases will likely emerge after launch.
It should be noted that the upcoming glasses are the same ones HTC announced last October when it was set to replace the Vive Flow consumer glasses that were launched last year. .
HTC hasn't confirmed this yet, but it describes the upcoming glasses as applying lessons learned from manufacturing the companies' cutting-edge Vive Flow and Vive Focus glasses.
It is believed that the combination of virtual and augmented reality technology in one pair of glasses will allow HTC glasses to compete with the new Meta Quest Pro glasses and the long-awaited Apple glasses.
HTC's Quest Pro glasses have a depth sensor that tracks the user's physical environment more effectively and creates more complex maps. It will also distinguish itself by photographing its surroundings in a way that allows users to read text on a laptop or smartphone through the glasses' cameras.
It's unclear if the glasses will offer the same eye-tracking capabilities as the Meta's glasses, but when asked, Yi said the Vive Focus 3 glasses have eye-tracking support as an optional standard upgrade, a feature HTC often offers for its glasses.
While the price of the headset hasn't been revealed yet, Ye warns that it will look pricey compared to the $399 Meta Quest 2. The upcoming glasses are expected to cost between $499 (the price of the Vive Flow glasses) and $1,300 (the Vive Focus 3 glasses).