The Oculus Rift launch is old news. Virtual reality (VR) fans waited nearly 4 years to find out when the biggest head-mounted display (HMD) would finally launched and for how much for. No sooner than these details were announced, however, was everyone looking forward to the next big thing; launch details for the HTC Vive. Valve and HTC’s Rift rival will be going up for pre-order later this month and arriving in April 2016, but fans are still yet to find out how much it will cost and what the final, consumer-ready kit looks like.
Those details are expected shortly before pre-orders begin on what’s though to be 29th February. It probably comes as no coincidence, then, that the week before that date is the week of one of the biggest events in the mobile phone industry, Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.
MWC takes place 22nd – 25th February. Traditionally, however, a day of press conferences takes place the day before the event kicks off, similar to how shows at E3 take place a day before the show floor opens for the videogame industry. Sure enough, we already know that Samsung is hosting an Unpacked press conference on 21st February, and we’re expecting to see some updates for Gear VR there. HTC is yet to confirm if it will also be hosting a press conference that day but has done in the past.
That includes last year where the company – much to the surprise of just about everyone – revealed the HTC Vive for the first time. MWC has historical significance for the device, then. It may not quite mark the year anniversary – last year’s show took place on 1st March – but this seems to be as good a time as any to lift the lid on the final version of the device that will be launching two months later.
This is all speculation on VRFocus’ part, but reports from around the web are also suggesting that HTC’s next flagship smartphone, apparently called the HTC One M10, could be delayed until March, clearing the way to talk about the launch of the HTC Vive in greater detail.
If true then fans need to sit tight for just a few more weeks; launch details are now just days away.
-END-
The post VR vs. HTC Vive Launch Details – Will Mobile World Congress Reveal All? appeared first on VRFocus.
