HTC has today revealed the price of the new HTC Vive Pro and at the same time reduced the price of the first Vive headset.

The new Vive Pro will retail for £799 with pre-orders starting now on Vive.com and selected retailers. The current Vive headset has also been reduced in price to £499.

With new prices set, HTC has announced that the Vive Pro HMDs will begin shipping on 5 April and all new headsets ordered will come with a free six-month trial to Viveport Subscription.

“Vive Pro delivers the best premium VR experience available on the market today and improves resolution, audio, and comfort for VR enthusiasts and enterprise customers. We are empowering developers to imagine bigger and better than ever before,” said Paul Brown, GM, HTC Vive Europe. “Today, we’re making VR even more accessible by lowering the price of the current Vive. There has never been a better time for VR fans to unleash their imagination with the most complete VR platform available.”

Orders are being taken from today and the new hardware comes with the new improved 2880 x 1600 resolution (an increase from 2160 x 1200) with dual OLED displays, and improved audio and comfort thanks to the new design which is step up from the Vive Audio strap released for the original Vive. The new Vive will also allow for the use of four base stations with an increased range up to 10x10m.

Current Vive owners were expected to be able to upgrade to the Vive Pro HMD-only upgrade option which is effectively what this appears to be as there is no mention of base stations or controllers. Based on what you actually get, the Pro is hugely overpriced and it would be crazy to pre-order this now. The better option would be to order the cheaper Vive with the Vive Audio strap for improved comfort.

The pre-orders start today and this is what’s included in the package.

VIVE PRO HMD includes

Headset

  • Headset cable (attached)
  • Face cushion (attached)
  • Cleaning cloth
  • Earphone hole cap (2)
  • Documentaion
  • Power adapter
  • DisplayPort™ cable
  • USB 3.0 cable
  • Mounting pad