HTC reveals its Vive Focus standalone VR headset

HTC has officially revealed its Vive Focus all-in-one VR headset in China. As previously announced, the Vive Focus runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and uses inside-out positional tracking. It should be the first standalone six-degrees-of-freedom VR headset to see release, though HTC isn’t saying exactly when it’ll be available.

It also comes with front-mounted depth cameras to allow for what’s called world-scale inside-out tracking (so your movements in the physical world are accurately mirrored in a VR space). All that works together to let you enjoy VR experiences without having to connect a phone or PC.

The headset’s design is unusual, taking cues from both PlayStation VR and HTC’s own Vive Deluxe Audio Strap, and it comes in a bright shade of blue. HTC hasn’t given a lot more away about the Focus’ other specs, like its screen resolution, battery life, how the inside-out tracker works and how the Snapdragon 835 here is optimized for VR.

HTC also noted that you’ll be able to access content from its Viveport store, and promises that more experiences will soon become available now that it’s launched its new Wave VR platform and toolset to let developers create and publish content that’ll work across VR hardware from multiple brands.

As the company focuses its efforts on its new headset and platform, it’s presently shelving plans for its Google Daydream headset at the moment.

HTC is yet to reveal details about the Vive Focus’ pricing and availability. It’ll only be sold in China initially, but hopefully it’ll arrive elsewhere later on.