HTC is unveiling a new VR headset today, designed to work with the company’s latest U11 smartphone. The new HTC Link includes six degrees-of-freedom tracking, a first for a smartphone-based VR headset, and appears to use an external camera sensor to track its motion controllers with lights (much like Sony’s PlayStation VR). UploadVR reports that both the camera and controllers are bundled in the box, but that the HTC Link will only be available in Japan.
While the Link is designed for the U11, the VR headset includes two 3.6-inch 1080 x 1200 LCD displays with a 110 degree field of view and support for 90Hz refresh rate. That means the U11’s display won’t be housed within the Link headset itself, and both devices connect via a USB-C cable. It’s not clear why HTC is limiting this to just the Japanese market, but the company is not using the Vive branding on this particular device.
HTC’s new Link device comes just days after Google revealed it’s partnering with manufacturers like HTC and Lenovo to launch standalone VR headsets. HTC plans to release the Link VR headset in late July, but pricing has not yet been announced.
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