A few weeks ago, rumors circulated that HTC was working on it. Standalone Wireless AR/VR (opens in new tab)A headset that rivals the Meta Quest 2. At his CES 2023, HTC unveiled the HTC XR Elite. This is an all-in-one XR headset that will be released next month. And it’s not cheap.
The Vive XR Elite can achieve 4K resolution (2K per eye) at 90Hz with a 110 degree FOV. It also has an external camera for mixed reality hijinx. It has a Snapdragon XR2 with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.On paper, the Vive XR Elite is meta quest 2 (opens in new tab)and at $1,099 it’s triple the price, so there it is.
The Vive XR Elite is designed with minimal bulk and comfort in mind. The back headrest is removable and the rest of the headset can be folded like sunglasses and stored in the carrying case.
I wear large-framed glasses, which makes wearing certain VR headsets very uncomfortable. That’s why I’m excited to actually be able to use the headset without glasses, since the XR Elite has built-in diopter to adjust focus.
HTC says it has an expected battery life of around 15 hours and offers a 30W fast charge that can charge the battery to 50% capacity in 30 hours. If you want to buy a second battery for longer VR sessions, you can also replace the battery with a swap.
The XR Elite weighs around 625g (around 1.4lbs) including the battery, which is pretty light for a headset, but the Meta Quest 2 is even lighter at 503g. Both are significantly lighter than the Valve Index, which weighs 809 grams. Without the XR Elite’s battery, it’s only 240g. It’s fairly lightweight when connected to a PC or phone. I don’t think it will last long once you plug it into your phone.
The Vive XR Elite has established itself as a premium alternative to Meta’s extremely popular headset. At launch, it will include 100 games. digital store (opens in new tab)But it can also be used as a Steam VR headset.
