The augmented/digital actuality (AR/VR) market is already buzzing with announcement of a number of productsduring final week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).While adoption of so-called XR applied sciences (a time period used to cowl augmented, combined and digital actuality) stays at an early stage, {hardware} distributors proceed to push towards mainstream acceptance by companies and shoppers. At CES, that meant the disclosing of latest mixed-reality headsets, smartglasses, and a Qualcomm processor that guarantees to energy a brand new technology of {hardware} later this yr.“Announcements at CES and in general in this space will help spur the market and innovation required to create a comprehensive ecosystem, which will help the industry evolve (and increase adoption),” stated Tuong Nguyen, director analyst at Gartner.After a backlash towards the metaverse and associated applied sciences lately, the temper seems to have shifted, beginning with the primary unveiling final summer time of Apple’s Vision Pro. (The headset might be obtainable for pre-order on Friday and hits shops on Feb. 2.) In addition, Meta’s Quest 3 headset and Ray-Ban smartglasses have garnered largely optimistic opinions, reigniting public curiosity in virtual- and mixed- actuality units.That follows a troublesome 2023 for the market: machine shipments declined 8.3% to 8.1 million units — a small quantity relative to the cash invested in product growth, in response to a latest report from IDC. However a gross sales rebound is predicted throughout 2024, IDC analysts say, up 46% in comparison with final yr.“We’re still very far from mainstream adoption,” stated Nguyen, with low single-digit share adoption for VR and AR headsets at the moment. Addressing {hardware} limitations is only one a part of the puzzle right here. The problem for progress in direction of early majority (not to mention mainstream) is the underlying ecosystem of content material, providers and functions.” The excellent news for the business, he stated, is that the units now coming to market can “spur interest and innovation” within the wider ecosystem. “In turn, this helps the industry evolve,” Nguyen stated.Apple units a date for Vision ProThe greatest AR/VR bulletins throughout CES weren’t on the occasion itself. Though Apple introduced the discharge date for its long-awaited Vision Pro within the US, no such date has been set for different international locations. The machine is anticipated to return to a handful of different markets, together with the UK and Canada, later within the yr. “By far, the most significant announcement in recent months is Apple’s Vision Pro announcement,” stated Nguyen. “Apple’s validation of the market has and will continue to usher in competitors as well as other critical providers to the ecosystem that needs to establish and grow to make AR and VR HMDs [head-mounted displays] successful.”With a $3,499 price ticket, the Vision Pro isn’t aimed toward mass viewers; IDC analysts are predicting round 200,000 unit gross sales this yr, with enterprise prospects prone to be the first viewers at first. Another analyst expects Apple will rapidly promote out of a primary run of round 60,000 to 80,000 units, in response to a CNBC report final week.The hype generated by Apple’s arrival out there could have a spillover impact on client curiosity in spatial computing — Apple’s time period for combined actuality expertise — extra broadly.“Apple’s entry into spatial computing has catalyzed the market, giving the competition a target to hit — or avoid,” stated Avi Greengart, president and lead analyst at Techsponential. “No one has announced a directly comparable product coming to market this year, but some are clearly in development. Other companies are deliberately choosing different development paths or market niches to avoid taking on Apple directly.”Sony unveils unnamed machine for 3D content material creationUntil now, Sony’s VR ambitions have centered on gaming, however that’s going to alter in 2024. At CES, the corporate introduced plans to focus on enterprise customers with a still-unnamed mixed-reality machine aimed on the creation of 3D content material and collaboration between professionals in fields comparable to leisure and engineering. It additionally introduced a partnership with Siemens to develop industrial AR/VR providers. Sony
Sony’s still-unnamed mixed-reality machine is dewsigned for 3D content material creation and collaboration.
The standalone headset includes a 4K OLED show and video passthrough just like what’s provided by Meta’s Quest 3 and the Vision Pro. The Sony machine additionally depends on two controllers to work together with 3D objects in digital environments: a pointer and ring controller for manipulation of 3D objects whereas retaining entry to a bodily keyboard. The machine will launch later in 2024, Sony stated. According to TechSwitch — which provided preliminary impressions of the headset evaluating it to the Vision Pro and Varjo’s XR-4 — Sony’s machine gained’t come as a standalone machine; will probably be bought as an alternative as a package deal with Siemens NX Immersive Designer software program (additionally introduced at CES).Latest Qualcomm XR chip factors to imminent Samsung headset launchAlso noteworthy: the Sony headset will use the most recent Qualcomm chipset aimed toward virtual-and mixed-reality {hardware}; the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2. Qualcomm formally unveiled the processor, which it says will allow the subsequent technology of headsets, the week earlier than CES.Key enhancements embody assist for high-resolution shows of as much as 4.3k pixels per eye (up from 3k with the XR2 Gen 2 chip); assist for 12 concurrent cameras (two greater than its predecessor); and 12 millisecond latency in full-color passthrough, a key characteristic for mixed-reality units. Those enhancements put Qualcomm’s specs roughly consistent with the Vision Pro, CCS Insight analyst Leo Gebbie stated in a latest weblog publish, and provides a glimpse of what to anticipate from the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 later this yr. Qualcomm’s chip can be prone to energy a brand new headset within the works from Samsung, a part of a joint effort withGoogle to create a combined -eality platform. Those plans, introduced in early 2023, have been apparently placed on maintain after Apple’s Vision Pro announcement. “[T]he announcement that Samsung is building with Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 implies that we’re going to see a powerful standalone headset from the company when the time for launch comes. That timing remains a mystery, although late 2024 seems like the most likely window,” stated Gebbie. Unknown at this stage is pricing for units working the brand new Qualcomm chipset, however there’s a powerful chance they might arrive in a cheaper price bracket, he stated.Smartglasses get vendor push at CESSeveral augmented-reality smartglasses have been on show at CES, together with Xreal’s Air 2 Ultra and TCL’s RayNeo X2 Lite, he stated.Priced at $699, the Air 2 Ultra glasses are aimed primarily at builders, however might be obtainable to shoppers once they launch in March. Xreal
Xreal’s Air 2 Ultra.
The Wayfarer-style titanium glasses weigh 80g, providing a light-weight different to heavier headsets. The Air 2 Ultra lets customers view digital objects (together with a big digital monitor, for instance) overlaid on the true world, in addition to spatial movies created on iPhones. There are drawbacks to the small form-factor, nevertheless, as, in contrast to the Vision Pro and Quest 3, the Xreal Air 2 Ultra have to be tethered to a smartphone, laptop computer, or PC by way of a USB-C cable.The Air 2 Ultra launch creates a “good, better, best” set of merchandise for the largest provider of AR headsets out there, stated Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. Even although most of its merchandise are 3-DoF (levels of freedom – a sign of the variety of rotational axes), he stated, the Air 2 Ultrasignals the corporate’s return to 6-DoF – having ditched the characteristic for the reason that the Nreal Light, launched in 2019.“[Xreal] sees a market there and can entice customers to upgrade to 6-DoF from its more affordable product,” Sag stated. (Xreal was identified earlier as Nreal.)“Xreal started with simple wearable displays, and is now building out the computing capabilities,” stated Greengart. “The field of view is somewhat limited and the software ecosystem needs to be built out, but the hand tracking worked and the image quality in my demo was excellent.” IDC
IDC expects a gross sales rebound within the AR/VR market in 2024
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