Vivecon is next week and HTC could be unveiling two new headsets

Next week on May 11th and 12th, HTC will be hosting Vivecon, a two day virtual convention on all things HTC Vive. I've signed up for it and hopefully I can attend as I'll be at a location which might have spotty Wifi for those days. In any case, I was expecting an announcement of a new VR headset but we might be getting two of them.

Protocol is reporting that HTC will take the time to announce both a Vive Focus 3 Business Edition and a Vive Pro 2. The Focus line is a stand alone series of headsets akin to the Oculus Quest. I was able to use the Focus at CES a few years ago and I thought it was solid at the time. Of course, it wasn't a lengthy review session, but for the 15 minutes or so that I used it, I liked what i saw.

The Focus line isn't really for everyday consumers and as such, you don't see many gamers talking about it. Businesses in need of a high quality stand alone headset have a few options, but the Focus is one of them and it looks like HTC will be updating that line next week.

The other headset being reported on is the Vive Pro 2. Now the Vive Pro was the successor to the Vive and again, more business focused. HTC went with the Cosmos line for the consumers, but I do see some gamers using the Vive Pro as it's got good optics, great screens, and is wireless compatible so you have all the makings of a VR HMD that can provide a high quality gaming experience with outside in tracking via the lighthouse base stations.

From the sounds of it, Vivecon won't have much in terms of gaming, but if the Vive Pro provides a lot of the hardware capable of delivering a great gaming experience, then this is another option available to people who are looking to get into VR albeit an expensive one it sounds like. Protocol says there's reports that it would be around $1000 for the Pro 2, which if true would put it in line with a full Valve Index setup, but a few hundred short of the HTC Cosmos Elite setup.

We've got a little less than week though to find out and I can't wait to see if indeed we're getting two new VR HMDs from HTC when Vivecon commences next Tuesday.