The HTC Vive is getting a price hike thanks to Brexit

The HTC Vive
Enjoying some HTC Vive action.

It's been a bewildering year for politics in the UK - and just about everywhere else - not least because in June we voted 51.89 percent to 48.11 percent to get out of the European Union. Since then the pound has not been doing well on the global stage.

We've already seen the price of the OnePlus 3 go up as a result and now the HTC Vive is following suit. The cost of the high-end virtual reality headset will go up by £70 to £759 (plus postage and packing), its maker has confirmed.

"We are committed to providing the best possible VR experience with Vive and would like to thank our UK customers and partners for their continued support," says HTC, citing "recent currency valuation changes and the current value of the GBP" as the reason for the rise in price.

The price is right?

Presumably HTC isn't working to margins quite as thin as OnePlus is, but it shows the continuing reverberations from the nation's vote last month. The pound may recover in time but for now companies are feeling the pinch.

The HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift are the two flagship VR headsets currently available to consumers - they offer the best virtual reality experience at the moment and require a pretty decent gaming PC to run from.

You can get more wallet-friendly mobile VR kit too, but the graphics and gameplay aren't up to the same standard. Still, forking out £759 for a PC accessory - even if it is the best around - is going to put a lot of users off VR for the time being.

Find out how to 3D print yourself a hand:

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.