"New Vision" of Phoenix Network TechnologyProduced
Author Xinxin
Edited by Ren Qing
Seven months after the announcement, on the evening of January 8, Apple announced that its first MR headset Vision Pro will go on sale in the United States on February 2, and pre-orders will begin on January 19, priced at $3,499.
After the announcement of the sale date, Apple's stock price was **242%, interrupting the continuation after New Year's Day this year***When Apple released Vision Pro in June last year, its stock price was 075%。
Apple share price. In June last year, Apple announced the launch of Vision Pro and the operating system VisionOS. "The era of spatial computing has arrived," Cook said. The Apple Vision Pro is the most advanced consumer electronic device ever made. ”
Most of Apple's most important iPhone launches are concentrated in the autumn of each year, which is an important sales time for consumer electronics, which can ensure that new products will not miss the peak shopping season at the end of each year.
The choice to launch a blockbuster new product at this node in February is a major change for Apple.
*Apple's official website.
Analysts at U.S. investment bank Jefferies released a report on Sunday saying that the decline in iPhone sales in the Chinese market is intensifying, and iPhone sales in China may decline further in 2024. Analysts cited industry surveys in the report that iPhone 15 series sales in China got off to a bad start, with a year-on-year decline extending to 30%. Barclays and Piper Sandler downgraded Apple's rating last week, with both investment banks not optimistic about iPhone sales this year.
Dragged down by the downgrade, Apple's stock price closed down in all four trading days last week, and its market value has evaporated by nearly $170 billion.
Apple must act against the backdrop of declining revenues, slowing economic growth and increased competition in the Chinese market, according to a report by the United States**.
In the field of MR headsets, Apple is not facing a blue ocean market. There are Meta, Sony, and Byte's PICO that have been working hard for several years, and the price of their products is lower than that of Vision Pro.
Before Apple, Meta had a major market share in the hybrid display space, but still suffered huge losses;In November last year, Byte's MR division, PICO, significantly reduced its staff, leaving only the hardware division. Sony's PSVR2 paired with the PS5 console was quiet after its release, barely opening the market.
The volume of MR users has not been able to catch up, and the market pioneers have become "martyrs" and become the primary problem in front of Apple.
Aside from the pre-order information, Apple didn't have much new content to reveal about the Vision Pro this time.
According to the introduction at the previous press conference, Vision Pro has a variety of new interaction methods, such as gesture and eye tracking functions, voice recognition, etc., which can be mainly used in office, entertainment and other scenarios. In terms of hardware, the core processor and sensor chips of Vision Pro are all self-developed by Apple, which helps the company better control product design.
This time, Apple's introduction to the Vision Pro is more focused on the ecosystem, with the VisionOS system offering more than 1 million apps across iOS and iPadOS. That is to say,Some of the most common apps on mobile phones and iPads can also be used on Vision Pro.
Apple frequently shows off the Vision Pro's office and meeting scenarios, showing strong productivity. In addition, the gaming capabilities of the Vision Pro were highlighted, and players can play more than 200 Apple subscription games such as NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition on this device.
Apple's research and development of MR equipment, in the industry is almost an "open secret", a person familiar with the electronic product chain, told Phoenix.com Technology that in the past few years, Apple has been investing in research and development in MR headsets, but has been cautious for a long time.
AR is the direction that Apple has invested more in the past few years, in the past few years, Apple has added structured light technology to the iPhone, and added a lidar scanner to the rear camera, mainly used for AR applications, and on the software side, Apple has launched ARit to facilitate developers to develop AR applications. During this period, Cook also publicly mentioned the potential of AR applications, such as medical and teaching applications.
Due to Apple's leading position in the consumer electronics market, many technology companies have long expected Apple to launch the MR market.
This wait lasted for several years, during which the technology market experienced a cycle of concepts and hype such as "the first year of VR" and "metaverse", and gradually fell silentCook himself said at the time that the maturity of MR technology depends on the co-evolution of sensors, displays, batteries and other fields. Apple is unusually cautious in its response to competition.
Apple is not stuck in the MR field, and in the face of breakthrough innovation, Apple, as a technology giant, needs to think long-termAt present, the relevant technical reserves are ready and have to be ready to go.
Apple has been a leader in the smartphone market for more than 10 years, but it has been criticized for opening up new markets.
Many people commented that Cook almost followed the philosophy of Steve Jobs in Apple's product roadmapThe advantages of the past are also Apple's constraints, causing Apple to miss the hot outlets in the field of technology such as new energy vehicles, and Vision Pro will be an opportunity for Cook to prove himself.
With the release of the product, Apple will also usher in new challenges. In addition to the competition of similar products, Apple also needs to find a way to make more people accept the high price of Vision Pro, while further reducing costs and increasing production capacity. Apple also admits that the device is just a few things for professionals and gaming enthusiasts.
Will the era of "spatial computing" advertised by Apple really come?Analysts believe that the "killer" app is still waiting to be developed, and in addition to some professional uses, Apple's entertainment scenarios will only include **streaming** services, TV platforms and game services will be connected to the device.
Apple has said that Vision Pro can bring users a better 3D movie** experience. In terms of content, Apple also announced a partnership with Disney, and Disney's subscription content will be available with the release of the device in the future. As a matter of fact. These are all transformations of Apple's original model, and it is difficult to see the revolutionary effect in a short period of time.
However, Apple has once again proved its strong strength in software and hardware integration and the best chain. For such a giant, what it needs is to once again rely on its own capabilities to replicate the industrial miracle of the iPhone.
Research institutes have a wide variation in the sales of the Vision Pro, which may face a shortage of stock within a year of its launch, and the production of the Vision Pro may increase to 12.6 million units in five years, accounting for about 1% of the current installed base of the iPhoneThe number of Vision Pro users is expected to reach 20 million, accounting for 15% of the installed MacBook base. Previously, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo** shipped about 500,000 units.
The capital markets have given Apple a cautious response, and fans and investors are holding their breath as they witness the company's biggest gamble in the next few years.