Finance Associated Press, December 20 (edited by Niu Zhanlin).As of Nov. 25, sales of AR and VR devices in the U.S. amounted to nearly 40% to 6$6.4 billion, which is a much larger decline than last year, which fell only 2% year-on-year to $1.1 billion.
While the VR market continues to shrink, market leader Meta still spends billions of dollars every quarter to realize its "metaverse" dream, for which CEO Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook Meta.
So far, there hasn't been a breakthrough success, or killer app, to shore up Zuckerberg's vision. Meta's Reality Labs division, which develops VR and AR technologies, reported sales of $2 in the third quarter$100 million, but a loss of $3.7 billion. Since the beginning of 2022, the division has lost a total of about $25 billion.
Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta's Reality Labs, said Monday that artificial intelligence and the metaverse are two of the company's long-term bets, and said they are beginning to emerge in the form of products that are accessible to the masses.
"It's not easy to bet on emerging technology for the long term, it's not guaranteed to work, and it's certainly not cheap," Bosworth wrote. But it's also one of the most rewarding things a tech company can do, and it's the only way to maintain a long-term advantage. ”
Ben Arnold, a consumer technology analyst at Circana, said that Meta is currently the leader in the VR market, with sales of its Quest headset accounting for the majority of the U.S. market. Sony released the PlayStation VR2 headset earlier this year, but it didn't gain much market share due to the device's reliance on the PlayStation 5** console.
Arnold attributes the year's sluggish market to the lack of new standalone VR headsets that can spark user interest, as well as the continued lack of breakthrough applications that have broad appeal among mainstream consumers.
Apple is in the game
With the arrival of 2024, the market has set its sights on Apple, which is expected to be the biggest variable in the VR market. Apple plans to launch its Vision Pro mixed reality (MR) headset in the U.S. early next year, with a starting price of $3,499.
VR developers believe that the high price** shows that Apple is targeting early adopters, developers, and companies as potential customers. Considering Apple's great success in the consumer device space and the potential for the Vision Pro to integrate with products like iPhones and iPads, VR enthusiasts are excited about Apple's first headset.
According to IDC research, the debut of Vision Pro could play a key role in the emerging VR and AR markets. In a September press conference on the state of the market, IDC research director Ramon Llamas claimed that "Apple's entry next year will bring much-needed attention to this small market, but it will also force other companies to compete differently." ”
Andrew Boone, an analyst at JMP Securities, said he was so impressed with Apple's Vision Pro demo that he began to worry about Meta's future in the market. "The initial idea was that Apple was so far ahead that maybe Meta would lose. ”
Boone added that now his attitude on the subject has changed, though, and Vision Pro** is too high to get a lot of demand, so Zuckerberg is pursuing a different track. Obviously, Quest is more focused on the gaming niche.
Boone believes there are "enough differences" between the Quest and Vision Pro devices to meet the needs of different demographics, though he expects to learn more about the VR market over the next 12 months.
"Apple's product is very high-end, so it also makes people think about what the ultra-premium experience looks like and what the use cases are for that," said Circana's Arnold. ”
Other analysts believe that Meta's Quest 3 has the potential to make a splash in corporate tasks such as employee training, onboarding, and marketing, and the device** is only $500.