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Embattled HTC ponders mobile VR as new flagship device

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Embattled mobile maker HTC has told TechCrunch it’s not ready to admit premium defeat — saying it has a new flagship device coming soon.

It’s also hinted it might consider getting into mobile VR in future — presumably as a step to try to revive interest in its premium smartphones. Earlier this month the company posted a $101 million net loss for Q4 2015, with CFO Chialin Chang admitting sales of its flagship HTC One M9 “fell short of expectation” last year.

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Meanwhile, this time last year the company took the wraps off of a high end VR headset — called Vive — plus partnership with games publisher Valve to build a virtual reality ‘experiences’ ecosystem. So it has at least been riding high on recent plentiful VR hype.
A year on from the Vive unveiling, the pair announced pricing for their ‘room-scale’ VR experience at MWC16. The headset, which will go on sale in April, costs $800 (plus the price of a powerful enough PC to drive it).
So, as with rival device the Oculus Rift, it’s not being priced for mainstream adoption — leaving plenty of room for a more budget VR experience, a la Samsung’s smartphone-powered Gear VR, should HTC decide it can afford to spread itself a little more thinly.
Asked directly about the possibility of the company making a phone-powered VR headset, Drew Bamford, corporate VP of HTC’s Creative Labs, told TechCrunch: “I can’t comment on our future roadmap but you can imagine HTC is as design led and innovation led business and of course it would make sense for us to work on more kinds of VR products, and products that unite our phone business and our VR business in ways that make sense.”
Company chairperson Cher Wang was quoted in The Telegraph last month saying VR is now the main priority for the company, telling the paper: “Yes, smartphones are important, but to create a natural extension to other connected devices like wearables and virtual reality is more important.”

 

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