Last week at Chinajoy, HTC announced work on a standalone Vive headset for the Chinese market similar to the one previously announced for the U.S. The main differences between the two headsets are that the headset for the U.S. is a joint partnership with Google.
The Google partnered VR headset will be built on Daydream utilizing Google’s WorldSense positional tracking technology. Vive’s China-focused standalone will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon VR tracking tech and run on HTC’s Viveport platform.
Neither headset has had a lot of details shared about them as to what to expect when they hit the market. A lot of questions remain as to how the technology will be adapted for a standalone VR headset.
Due to the lack of motion controllers, movement will not work the same with a standalone device. To that end the style of games may be different for the standalone Vive devices. While HTC’s Daydream standalone headset will utilize the Daydream controller. It is unclear what type of input the new Chinese standalone will utilize.
Although China has seen much more activity in the standalone market than the U.S., pricing will be key for HTC. No details on a release date for the standalone in China, though HTC has said it wants to get the Google partnered stand alone out in the U.S. by the end of 2017.
