HTC Confirms It Has Sold Over 140,000 Vive VR Headsets

When HTC first opened pre-orders for its Vive VR headset back in March, 15,000 units were already reserved in the first 10 minutes. It eventually went on sale in April and has already sold more than 140,000 units worldwide as of late.

The sales figure for the HTC Vive was provided by the Taiwanese company’s president of global sales Chia-Lin Chang. The executive first revealed the figure to investors in a conference call back in Oct. 25, with the transcript of the call just being released this Thursday, according to Phone Arena.

Last month, a rumor was going around that HTC was only able to sell 140,000 Vive headsets. During Chang’s conference call with investors, he addressed the rumor by saying that sales are actually "much higher" than that. However, Chang declined to provide investors with a specific number. This of course will make investors a bit suspicious on how much profit HTC is actually making with each Vive units sold. The full transcript is available to read on Seeking Alpha.

HTC’s phone division has also been struggling for the past couple of years now, and most of its revenues are hinging on the sales of the Vive, which HTC claims to be selling at a profit for $800. HTC has already been able to cut its losses from the third quarter of 2016, but its phone division is still keeping the company down, according to Android Headlines. This is why HTC is now moving away from phones and focusing more on VR in 2017.

Not providing a specific number of Vive units sold could potentially be problematic for developers as well. Right now, developers are trying to decide on which VR headset they want to be tied down with. If HTC clearly shows everyone that its Vive headset is selling as good as or even better than its rivals, developers would be more inclined to make games for the Vive.

The HTC Vive is probably one of the best VR headsets available now, but its future is uncertain. With rivals selling their VR headsets for a cheaper price, it might not matter how advanced the HTC Vive is for mainstream consumers.