A virtual reality (VR) display device and a display method are provided, so as to improve the problems that an existing VR display device has higher power consumption and waste of resources. The display method for the VR display device includes: in response to a first operation of a user, initiating a smartview mode (S101); controlling display in a first display region of a screen of the VR display device to be at first definition; controlling display in a second display region, other than the first display region, of the screen of the VR display device to be at second definition (S102); and supplementing and displaying black for part of pixels in the second display region (S103); the first display region is a region watched by human eyes; and the first definition is greater than the second definition.