HTC Vive Pro hands-on: increased resolution is great, built-in earphones are high-quality, and has a clean design, but still doesn't work well with glasses
The Vive Pro is a VR headset made for virtual reality enthusiasts … Today at CES 2018, HTC put the emphasis on its new premium, PC-based virtual reality.
Context & Ripple Effects
HTC had unveiled the Vive Pro just a day earlier at CES 2018, touting a 2880x1600 display — a 78% jump over the current Vive — plus a wireless adapter to cut the PC tether. This hands-on is the first physical check on those claims, confirming the sharper screen and built-in earphones while flagging a practical flaw: the headset still doesn't accommodate glasses.
The verdict lands in a familiar place for HTC. The original Vive's launch review already dinged it as glitchy and expensive at $800, and by April the Pro would ship at $799 without peripherals — again an enthusiast-only proposition.
First-order effects
- Enthusiasts gain a meaningfully sharper, untethered-capable headset, but glasses-wearing buyers are told to wait — the fit problem persists from the original Vive design.
- The $799 peripheral-free pricing confirmed in the April review makes the Pro an upgrade purchase only for existing Vive owners who already own base stations and controllers.
Second-order effects
- Selling the wireless adapter separately pushes the real cost of cutting the cord above the headline price, pressuring HTC to justify each add-on against a headset that was already criticized as too expensive.
- The enthusiast-only positioning forces HTC to split its roadmap: the same team that shipped this premium iteration went on to announce the Vive Pro Eye with eye-tracking and tease the more consumer-friendly Cosmos.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, HTC's VR business consolidates around a two-tier structure — high-price iterative upgrades for a small installed base, and cheaper standalone-style devices like the later $499 Vive Flow chasing mainstream buyers — rather than one headset for everyone.
The trend: PC-based VR is bifurcating into premium enthusiast iterations like the Vive Pro line and cheaper consumer-oriented headsets, with HTC explicitly serving both tracks.