HTC's standalone VR headset costs more than you'd expect

HTC Vive Focus Plus
Image Credit: HTC

Move over Oculus Quest, HTC has announced the price, release date and specs for its standalone Vive Focus Plus headset and, like Obi-Wan in The Revenge of the Sith, it’s taking the high ground. 

To that end, expect to see the more business-centric VR headset on sale starting on April 15 for $799/ £639  (around AU$1,100) with the ability to tack on its Advantage program - HTC's Apple Care equivalent - for an extra £115 (around $150/AU$200).

Not only is HTC's headset a little pricier than the $399 Oculus Quest, but it's also a bit higher spec'd as well and features a 3K AMOLED (2880x1600) screen and Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. That said, the display only has a native refresh rate of 75Hz and 32GB of storage - really only enough to store business applications and some local files. 

While the Focus Plus isn't going to be your go-to headset for play games like Beat Saber, HTC says the headset will offer 250 Vive Wave applications at launch that run natively on the Vive Focus Plus, and can access the Viveport Infinity Wave subscription program that includes over 70 premium titles, many of which have an educational or commercial purpose. 

But hey, the future of virtual reality can't be all fun and games, right? 

Nick Pino

Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.

Latest in Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Snap Spectacles 5
Latest Snap Spectacles update teases an exciting AR future that I can't wait for
Project Moohan prototype at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, an XR goggles headset on display in a show area
Samsung's Android XR headset could avoid the Apple Vision Pro's biggest mistake, according to this leak
Vision Pro Metallica
Apple Vision Pro goes off to never never land with Metallica concert footage
The Ray-Ban Meta Coperni smart glasses
The new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses design is an expensive disappointment
The Meta Quest Pro on its charging pad on a desk, in front of a window with the curtain closed
Samsung, Apple and Meta want to use OLED in their next VR headsets – but only Meta has a plan to make it cheap
The new limited edition Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses show a translucent design.
Ray-Ban and Meta just teased new limited-edition smart glasses – but they'll be in frustratingly short supply
Latest in News
Perplexity Squid Game Ad
New ad declares Squid Game's real winner is Perplexity AI
Pedro Pascal in Apple's Someday ad promoting the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.
Pedro Pascal cures his heartbreak thanks to AirPods 4 (and the power of dance) in this new ad
Frank Grimes confronts Homer Simpson in The Simpsons' Homer's Enemy episode
Disney+ adds a new continuous Simpsons stream, so you no longer have to spend ages choosing an episode
Helly and Mark standing on an artificial hill surrounded by goats in Severance season 2 episode 3
New Apple teaser for Severance season 2 finale suggests we might finally find out what Lumon is doing with those goats, and I don't think it's anything good
Nvidia GR00T N1 humanoid robot
Nvidia is dreaming of trillion-dollar datacentres with millions of GPUs and I can't wait to live in the Omniverse
Foldable iPhone
Apple’s first foldable iPhone could beat the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 in one key way