HTC to add smartphone to Vive family?

There were only a couple of virtual reality (VR) announcements that came out of CES last week, but a new video has emerged that hints at a HTC Vive smartphone. 

Well, it doesn’t hint at it as much as it emblazon it on the screen of a new commercial that was leaked on twitter over the weekend. (The Vive phone can be seen at around the 1:25 mark)

The almost-certain introduction of a VR-enabled phone represents the way in which the market is heading more towards smartphones as the main thrust of VR adoption as opposed to pricer, high-end VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC’s own Vive.

This is not just speculation. According to some estimates, the Samsung Gear VR headset – which requires a mobile phone to work – outsold the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR.

The video, which was surfaced by serial product leaker Evan Blass on twitter on Saturday, will likely be a part of what’s coming in the company’s event on January 12th. 

For U — 01.12.2017 pic.twitter.com/RYhTOc4Rof

— HTC (@htc) December 20, 2016

HTC has not addressed the contents of the video, but with confirmation likely later this week, we could soon see major competition to Samsung’s Gear VR and Google’s Daydream View and Pixel mobile VR ecosystem.