Consumer electronics manufacturer HTC have not been doing tremendously well with their smartphone series line-up but the tech company has more than made up for it in the latest Virtual Reality front with their premium VR headsets, the HTC Vive Series. In April last year, HCL, in collaboration with Valve Corporation developed a virtual reality headset called the HTC Vive which went on to become one of the most premium VR headsets in the world today. Now, the forthcoming CES was supposed to see the company announce yet another iteration of the VR headset, called the HTC Vive 2 , which is slated to be a more advanced version of its predecessor headset but sadly the rumours did not materialise with HTC confirming that the Vive 2 will not appear at the CES event in 2017.
Announced first at the MWC 2015, the HTC Vive is a winner in the VR industry owing to the high-end technology it uses for an enrichening VR experience. The headset is designed to utilise “room scale” technology to turn a room into 3D space via sensors, with the virtual world allowing the user to navigate naturally, with the ability to walk around and use motion tracked handheld controllers to vividly manipulate objects, interact with precision, communicate and experience immersive environments.
Rikard Steiber, the Senior Vice President of the Virtual Reality division at HTC told TechCrunch that the new Vive virtual reality headsets are on the way, likely to be called the HTC Vive 2. These upgraded headsets would likely include form and factor updates, including the reduction of overall weight. According to several reports from cal media in Taiwan, the HTC Vive 2 will be able to sync wirelessly with compatible PCs out of the box. It will also have its refresh rate bumped from 90Hz to 120Hz and its resolution raised from 1080 x 1200 for each eye to 4K per eye.
One of the rumours revolving around the HTC Vive 2 is the fact that the new headset by HTC might probably be a wireless one. HTC and Quark VR are collaborating to produce a prototype wireless headset that would come with an upgraded resolution as well although there is no confirmed new for the statement. Nevertheless, HTC’s next event in 2017 might well provide us with the first look of the Vive 2 giving us an idea of what the headset would be capable of. Post the announcement, the company is most likely slated to announce the headset in the markets with more and more smartphones inching towards VR technology.
