If you live in the UK, have a keen interest in virtual reality (VR) and have been considering picking up the HTC Vive in particular, then it seems the best time to do so will be before August 1. This is because HTC has today announced that starting from August 1 (Monday), the cost of the HTC Vive in the UK will rise in price and fairly substantially.
At present, buying the HTC Vive in the UK and directly from HTC will set you back £689. This is the full purchase figure including tax, although HTC does also charge a postage and packing fee in the UK for Vive which is not included in the £689 amount. From Monday, the price for the same unit from the same website will increase to £759. Again, this is the post tax price and again, does not include the postage and packing charges. In the very shortest of terms, the HTC Vive in the UK is increasing in price from Monday by exactly £70.
The official reason given by HTC for the price hike is that HTC “continuously monitors and adjusts pricing to ensure we are providing our customers with the best value possible” and as a result of the “recent currency valuation changes and the current value of the GBP” they are adjusting the price of the HTC Vive from Monday by the £70 marker. Unofficially, and while not explicitly stated by HTC, this will obviously be attributed to an effect of the UK voting to leave the EU, aka, Brexit.
HTC is not the first company to announce such measures since the UK voted to leave the EU, as OnePlus were very fast in confirming that they were adjusting the price of their latest smartphone, the OnePlus 3, in the UK to reflect the sudden and volatile movements of the GBP. However, in comparison, the price hike by OnePlus was much smaller with the cost of the smartphone going up by £20. While, the OnePlus 3 does only cost half the price of the HTC Vive, when extrapolating, the price difference still only adds up to a £40 comparable increase. The HTC Vive by comparison, in increasing by almost double that amount. Another way to look at it, is that the HTC Vive is effectively increasing in price by more than 10-percent of the overall (current) cost of the HTC Vive. As mentioned, the price increase is due to begin from Monday August 1. Until then, the HTC Vive is still currently available to buy at the lower £689 price.