Three minutes a day to learn about the hot spots in the VR AR industry.
A quick look at today's news
In 2023, the domestic consumer-grade XR will increase slightly by 6 year-on-year5%
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple's headset return rate is 1%, which is not abnormal.
Meta and LG have officially confirmed their partnership, which includes a "development project for next-generation XR devices."
The next generation of the Vision Pro will be mass-produced in late 2025 or early 2026.
Honor says it is working on a smart ring similar to the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
The Thunderbird X2 AR glasses have been launched on Indiegogo for US developers and early adopters.
Dapeng VR announced a comprehensive hardware update for its E4 PC VR headset.
Qualcomm and Accedo have partnered to accelerate XR market adoption with end-to-end offerings.
The ROKID AR research camp has landed in Guigang, Guangxi, and the AR experience is entering thousands of households.
According to sources, ByteDance is secretly developing AI products such as digital humans.
In 2023, the domestic consumer-grade XR will increase slightly by 6 year-on-year5%
According to the latest statistics recently released by Cinno Research, the sales volume of domestic consumer-grade XR equipment in 2023 will be 7570,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 65%。Although the overall share of the XR market is still small, Apple's demonstration effect is significant, which will tilt the ** chain and investment to the XR market to a certain extent, and the industry will usher in new opportunities. It is expected that in the next 3-5 years, with the advancement of technology and the maturity of the market, MR equipment with high-level interaction and computing capabilities will become more popular.
At present, the XR market is still a niche, VR has been trapped in the software ecosystem in recent years, and its development has been hindered, while AR has been able to achieve continuous and rapid growth by virtue of the advantages of virtual large screen and high cost performance.
According to CINNO statistics, domestic consumer-grade AR sales in 2023 will be **138 year-on-year9%；VR sales fell 14% year-on-year0%。In 2024, after the outbreak of AR products, the base will increase, and the increase will narrow, and it is expected to rise by 34 year-on-year4%, while the impact of VR product content ecological shortcomings continues, and it is expected to continue to decline year-on-year, and the decline will expand to 224%, and the sales of domestic consumer-grade XR equipment may still decline by 5 percent in 20244%。
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple's headset return rate is 1%, which is not abnormal.
A few days ago, the famous analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released the latest market report on Apple's Vision Pro headset, which mentioned that the market demand for this headset in the United States has slowed down significantly, and the shipment time has now improved to 3-5 days. It is worth noting that in the analysis report, Ming-Chi Kuo said that about 20-30% of users return because they don't know how to set up Vision Pro, or don't know how to operate it, while users who return only 1% of buyers.
In fact, Apple's products have always been known for their intuitive user interfaces, such as iPhones and Macs, but the Vision Pro seems to be lacking in this regard. Apple's first headset has some less obvious features that can be confusing for users.
For example, the Vision Pro uses eye-tracking technology to control the cursor in the device. While this should be more intuitive than using a mouse, it also has limitations. If a user wants to navigate your app, they need to press a physical button on the headset, which takes them out of the spatial computing experience. To open the control center, it is necessary to look up at the small arrow on the ceiling. If you forget your password, you may need to go to the Apple Store to reset it. For $3500**, some users don't think it's worth it.
Meta and LG have officially confirmed their partnership, which includes a "development project for next-generation XR devices."
On February 29, Mark Zuckerberg met with LG CEO William Cho and LG Home Entertainment President Park Hyoung-Sei at LG headquarters in Seoul to officially finalize the details of the partnership. Allegedly, the meeting apparently included Zuckerberg's presentation of the Quest 3 to CHO, as the two companies have confirmed that they will work together on an XR "strategic collaboration."
It is reported that this is Zuckerberg's first public visit to South Korea since 2014, and the last time he visited Samsung, he finalized the Gear VR smartphone holder headset partnership. Now, LG confirms that this meeting includes a discussion of "business strategies and considerations for the development of next-generation XR devices" and issued the following statement:
LG envisions creating a unique ecosystem in the XR space by combining Meta's platform with the content services capabilities of its TV business, which is one of the company's new business areas. In addition, the combination of the fusion technology elements of Meta's diverse core with LG's cutting-edge products and quality capabilities is expected to create significant synergies in the development of next-generation XR devices. ”
With Meta re-entering the segment alongside LG, and the previously announced Google-Samsung partnership, the high-end headset market, which is currently dominated only by Apple, could become a three-legged competition next year.
The next generation of the Vision Pro will be mass-produced in late 2025 or early 2026.
Recently, Ming-Chi Kuo said in his latest report that the next generation of Vision Pro products will start mass production in late 2025 or early 2026.
In fact, while previous reports from Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman mentioned that Apple is working on a cheaper headset, Ming-Chi Kuo has now said that Apple has not advanced the project to the stage of negotiations with a vendor or assembler, suggesting that the headset is still in the early stages of development.
Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Vision Pro's next-generation products will focus on "improving the efficiency of production and the ** chain" to reduce costs and increase capacity, rather than adding new features or making major specification changes. Mark Gurman has previously said that Apple's top priority for the Vision Pro successor is to make it smaller and lighter. As previously discussed, the weight and resulting poor comfort are arguably the biggest drawbacks of the current Vision Pro.
Given the production schedule, this Vision Pro successor could be launched in the first half of 2026, about two years later than the current Apple Vision Pro.
Honor says it is working on a smart ring similar to the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
Recently, Honor CEO Zhao Ming participated in the MWC 2024 conference held in Barcelona. When asked about the new wearable category, Zhao Ming said, "We have this solution in-house, and now we are working on it, so in the future you may have a glory ring." That said, Honor seems to be working on a smart ring.
However, Zhao Ming did not disclose a possible release date for the company's smart rings. With the Samsung Galaxy Ring scheduled to launch in the second half of 2024 (more specific information is expected in July), Honor will need to launch sooner rather than later if it wants to carve out its niche.
Now, Honor has launched a range of wearables, such as the Honor Band 4 bracelet and the Watch 4, which can be connected directly to its health app. But apparently, Honor sees smart rings as a good companion for AI applications.
With Samsung and now Honor in the race for the title of best smart ring, it's clearly going to be an exciting year for minimalist wearables.
The Thunderbird X2 AR glasses have been launched on Indiegogo for US developers and early adopters.
Recently, it was reported that Thunderbird Innovation's Thunderbird X2 AR glasses have been opened to AR and AI developers in the United States. It is understood that the AR glasses are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 processor, the same chip used in Meta's Quest 2, so advanced tracking is possible. The Thunderbird X2 also includes several AR and AI apps, including turn-by-turn navigation, screen and audio translation, AI chat, and AR apps for easy drawing and guidance**.
In addition to this, to fund the development of AR and AI to expand the number of applications for the Thunderbird X2 AR glasses, Thunderbird Innovation said that developers can compete to receive up to $10,000 in rewards from the total prize pool of $150,000.
According to ** reviews, the Thunderbird X2 AR glasses are a bit big and heavy for a pair of glasses, which makes this AR glasses the best for developers, but in fact anyone can order them. In addition, early adopters will be the first to enjoy advanced AI capabilities. And a smaller, lighter version with similar features, the Thunderbird X2 Lite, will also be available later this year.
Dapeng VR announced a comprehensive hardware update for its E4 PC VR headset.
Recently, Dapeng VR announced that it will carry out a comprehensive hardware update of its E4 PC VR headset. The company said the device's improvements are in response to consumer feedback and aim to provide a more immersive and comfortable VR experience for E4 users.
According to feedback from the user community, previous versions of E4 devices may get hot when playing games for long periods of time, especially during the summer months. Other areas of improvement that the company has addressed include audio quality (for social VR apps like VRCHAT), as well as durability, reliability, and compatibility with a wide range of user head sizes, including children – especially for the VR arcade business.
In response to user concerns, DPVR said it has made enhancements to its E4 hardware with the following issues: a new turbo cooling system, fan module upgrades, audio upgrades, new cable solutions, and comfort and appearance enhancements.
Derek Liu, Vice President of DPVR, said, "Designing with the needs and feedback of the community in mind has always been our top priority. While other large VR headset manufacturers have shifted their focus to standalone devices, and with Microsoft discontinuing the Windows mixed reality platform, DPVR remains committed to being a beacon of innovation for PC VR fans. ”
Qualcomm and Accedo have partnered to accelerate XR market adoption with end-to-end offerings.
Accedo, the world's leading solutions provider, and Qualcomm, a leading enabler shaping the XR industry, have partnered to announce the development of end-to-end XR products for pay-TV operators to accelerate the adoption of next-generation** experiences in sports, ** and home entertainment.
It is reported that Accedo will develop a high-performance XR hub software stack based on the Snapdragon Spaces XR developer platform. Qualcomm has designed an XR Hub, powered by Snapdragon, a reference platform for XR distributed computing that supports the capabilities of the Accedo software stack. These innovations are designed to be the new ** hub for the next generation of living rooms, with the help of Qualcomm's segmented rendering technology, which enables the use of AR glasses in the same room, enabling a multi-user experience.
In addition, the reference platform will support Accedo's XTEND solution, enabling pay-TV operators as well as sports, ** and entertainment companies to build engaging and scalable XR streaming ** applications. Accedo's long experience in Android TV development will help develop the new XR Launcher, specifically designed to integrate with XR Hub.
The ROKID AR research camp has landed in Guigang, Guangxi, and the AR experience is entering thousands of households.
Recently, Rokid, together with Guangxi Juvenile Travel Research Institute and Guigang Museum, held two AR research camps, and nearly 100 primary and secondary school students in Guigang City experienced the charm of AR. This is also the first time that Rokid has brought offline AR experience to fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and with the development of the AR industry and the thirst for emerging technologies in lower-tier cities, AR is rapidly entering thousands of households.
"AR+ education" is a major educational innovation direction in recent years, and Rokid has also actively promoted the application of AR in educational innovation through various ways such as AR schools and research camps, so that more young people can experience the integration of AR technology and reality.
Up to now, Rokid has held a number of research camps, covering Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and other provinces, and thousands of students have deeply experienced AR technology. This year, Rokid plans to launch research camps in more lower-tier cities to practice the concept of "Le**e NoBody Behind".
According to sources, ByteDance is secretly developing AI products such as digital humans.
According to Jiemian News, ByteDance is secretly developing a number of products in the field of AI large models, including multi-modal digital human products, AI raw graphs, AI raw products, etc.
It is reported that a person familiar with the matter revealed that he saw the demo of ByteDance's multimodal digital human product in the second half of 2023, and the overall feeling was not bad. According to Jiemian News, Jianying, a subsidiary of ByteDance, has set up a closed team a few months ago to secretly develop AI products. At present, the team is still in the stage of strict secrecy, and the products developed have not yet been launched.
In addition, a person close to ByteDance said that last year, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming spent his main energy on AI, which is enough to get a glimpse of the company's emphasis on AI business. At present, ByteDance has adopted a comprehensive layout from the model layer to the application layer and a multi-legged walking model in the research and development of AI large model-related products. In the field of basic large models, in August 2023, the company launched the first large language model "Doubao" and the multimodal large model Bubogpt. Its Douyin Skylark model has been filed through the first batch of "Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services" and is open to the public.
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