The Metaverse is unlikely to become a rigid necessity for the time being, MR is not Apple's new 'iPhone”

The Metaverse is not a rigid necessity for the time being, MR is not Apple’s new “iPhone”

(Picture source: Apple official website video screenshot)

China Times (www.chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Lu Xiao reporting from Beijing

Although Big Model, the “rising star” of AI, has stolen a lot of limelight from the Metaverse, Apple’s first mixed reality (MR) head-mounted display device, which has been launched for 7 years and has been continuously postponed, has added another piece of firewood to the world. .

For Apple, which launched its last epoch-making product, iPhone 4, in 2010, the launch of its first MR device does mean a new beginning for itself, but it is still unclear whether it can replicate the highlight moments of iPhone 4 that year. . As the mobile phone terminal market continues to decline, Vision Pro has also allowed technology manufacturers who need to find new growth points to see more possibilities for the Metaverse beyond games. This is undoubtedly the only way for MR equipment to become a necessity.

End of seven years debut

Apple has been criticized for "minor repairs" in innovation in recent years, and Vision Pro can be regarded as its most important new product in the past decade.

It is reported that this Vision Pro, which looks a bit like ski goggles, uses a micro-oled screen and is equipped with M2 and R1 dual chips. Among them, the M2 chip was first released at last year's WWDC, while the real-time sensor processing chip R1 is mainly responsible for transmission. Officials claim that the transmitted data can be reached in 12 milliseconds, faster than the blink of an eye.

According to Apple, users can control Vision Pro with their hands, eyes and voice, without using a controller, to experience movies, TV shows and games in a more immersive way. Disney executives also said during the meeting that day that Disney would provide streaming services for Vision Pro once it is shipped.

It is worth mentioning that, including Meta Quest 3, which was released a few days before Apple, most of people’s “stereotypes” of consumer head-mounted devices still remain in the gaming field, while Apple’s Vision Pro It shows the possibility of MR replacing mobile phones, computers, and tablets and changing the way people live and work.

On June 5, Apple demonstrated the use of Vision Pro in a work environment. It can project a screen similar to a computer desktop to replace a computer monitor, and users can type using keyboards and other devices. Tim Cook also said that day that with Vision Pro, users will no longer be limited by monitors.

Unlike headsets like the Meta, Apple’s Vision Pro also features an external display that can display images of the user’s eyes outside of the device, nearby, when someone is near the user in full virtual mode. people will also appear in the user's field of vision.

Before the release of MR products on June 5, Apple’s stock price rose by 2%, hitting a 52-week stock price high of $184.95. However, after the release of MR, its stock price remained flat or fell slightly, closing at $179.58 that day, a slight decrease. 0.76%, with a total market value of US$2.82 trillion.

When communicating with reporters from the China Times, some industry insiders believed that Vision Pro had not made much progress on issues such as the thickness and weight of the device, and the price and sales time exceeded outside expectations. He believed that Apple’s first-generation headphone There is a high probability that display equipment will not be able to grow in volume, so it is not surprising that the stock price has fallen back from its high level.

When will it become a necessity?

Apple’s layout in the field of virtual reality has actually been more than seven years.

According to incomplete statistics from reporters, as early as November 2013, Apple confirmed its acquisition of PrimeSense, an Israeli 3D sensor technology company. Sources revealed at the time that the deal was valued at approximately $360 million. In 2015, Apple also acquired German computer vision startup Metaio for $28 million. Since then, it acquired Canadian VR/AR headset startup Vrvana and German computer vision company SensoMotoric Instruments in 2017.

In May 2020, Apple also confirmed its acquisition of VR content startup NextVR. It was reported at the time that the company was valued at US$100 million and might help Apple develop VR and AR headsets, as well as supporting software and content. In August of that year, Apple also confirmed its acquisition of Spaces, a VR startup that started as a DreamWorks Animation project.

Behind this series of acquisitions, Apple has been unable to produce as innovative products as the original iPhone. Apple’s performance also needs to find new growth points outside of the iPhone.

On May 5, Apple released its financial report for the second fiscal quarter of 2023 (as of April 1 this year). Apple's total revenue for the period was US$94.8 billion, down 2.51% year-on-year; net profit for the period was US$24.1 billion, down 3.4% year-on-year. This was also the second consecutive quarter of Apple's revenue and net profit declining.

Among them, iPhone revenue was US$51.334 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2%, accounting for 54% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2023. But on the other hand, a report from Counterpoint Research shows that the global smartphone market shipments in the first quarter of 2023 were 280.2 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14% and a month-on-month decrease of 7%. Among them, Apple ranked second with 58 million shipments, a year-on-year decrease of 2% and a month-on-month decrease of 17%.

However, although Apple has been honing its experience in the MR field for many years, the metaverse it faces has not grown into a market that is in demand.

The "China AR/VR Head Display Market Quarterly Tracking Report" released by IDC shows that in the first quarter of 2023, China's AR/VR market shipped 173,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 37.6%. Among them, the AR (augmented reality) market shipped 22,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%, and the VR (virtual reality) market shipped 150,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 42.2%. It believes that this is mainly affected by factors such as the cost reduction and efficiency improvement strategies of leading manufacturers, the continued weak demand for non-rigid consumer electronics products, and the lack of stimulus for new product launches.

IDC also believes that the current shipments of consumer electronics terminals such as smartphones have fallen into a growth bottleneck. Terminal manufacturers are eager to explore new growth points in the new round of competition. After the release of Vision Pro, most domestic head terminal manufacturers have also New AR/VR products will be launched from the end of the year to 2024. At the same time, manufacturers without relevant track layout will also quickly enter the market. The multi-dimensional competition between manufacturers in the field of next-generation computing platforms will continue to intensify.

IDC China Senior Analyst Zhao Siquan also told a reporter from China Times that the current global and Chinese AR/VR market shipments are declining, and manufacturers’ new product launches, marketing actions, and the pace of new content online have slowed down. The yield and mass production time of new display and interactive technology components are still uncertain. This Apple MR release has important guiding significance for the entire AR/VR industry in terms of product hardware characteristics, content ecological upgrade direction, and new technology development in the industry chain. As one of the most important new products in 2023, Apple’s official entry will accelerate the evolution of AR/VR devices from entertainment tools to productivity tools.

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