HTC & Qualcomm Collaborate on Stand-Alone VR Headset

China is getting its very own stand-alone VR headset thanks to HTC and Qualcomm.

It has just been announced that HTC and Qualcomm will be working together to produce a stand-alone VR headset exclusively for the China market.  Both companies are already working on VR headsets with Google for the western markets.

The difference between the eastern VR headset and the Western VR headset is that China version will be powered by the Viveport content platform while the eastern market will get the Android-powered model.

Alvin W. Graylin, China regional president of Vive, HTC had this to say, “Partnering with Qualcomm to deliver an easy to use and more affordable Vive VR system will enable us to make premium stand-alone VR widely accessible to the masses in China,”.

Google announced its stand-alone Daydream VR headset at its developer conference back in May. This headset with being the result of a collaboration between HTC and Lenovo and will be available by the end of this year. These headsets will come to the new WorldSense positional tracking, which allows the device to track movements in space without the need for any external sensors.

These stand-alone headsets will not require a smartphone for use.  They will be designed and optimized with two smaller screens to provide the best in the mobile VR experience.

According to Qualcomm’s company’s developer kit, the Daydream stand-alone is headset based on the Snapdragon 835 chip, and two displays that produce a 2560 x 1440 resolution combined. The design is backed by 4GB of LPDDR4 system memory, and 64GB of internal storage for housing all those VR experiences. Other features include a built-in trackpad for manual input, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

The China stand-alone VR headset will more than likely features Qualcomm’s hardware infrastructure, but will not have anything to do with Google and its WorldSense technology. This headset may possibly feature front-mounted cameras with fisheye lenses, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and motion-sensing technology provided by Leap Motion.