HTC drops Vive to $499 and opens preorders for $799 headset-only Vive Pro
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/19/17137336/htc-vive-pro-vr-hmd-upgrade-price-preorder-shipping-date
HTC says it will charge $799 for its new, higher-resolution Vive Pro virtual reality headset — and we mean, literally, just the headset. Vive Pro preorders open today, with the first headsets shipping on April 5th. They’re designed to be swapped into an existing Vive setup, using the old Vive’s lighthouse tracking beacons and controllers. Meanwhile, the current Vive system will drop to $499, cutting $100 off the current price. Anyone who purchases a Vive Pro by June 3rd will get six free months of HTC’s Viveport subscription service, and a price for a full Vive Pro kit will be announced sometime in the future.
The Vive Pro was announced early this year at CES, marking the first major upgrade to the Vive since its launch in 2016. It substantially increases the Vive’s screen resolution, using two OLED displays that offer 1400 x 1600 pixels per eye compared to 1080 x 1200 on the current Vive. It also includes a variety of ergonomic changes, including built-in headphones and a head strap that tightens via dial instead of velcro. You could get these options via a kit for the original Vive, but now they’re built into the core device, and we’ve found the hardware to be a distinct improvement over its predecessor.