When XR hardware manufacturers tapped into the entertainment market, Apple decided to take AR/VR headsets a step further. Bloomberg recently revealed that Apple is developing new features for VR/AR headsets to help people with eye diseases. For this plan, Apple even set up a special XDG team to carry out secret research and development.
Aiming at the big health market, Apple is not the first time. A few days ago, Apple's internal data revealed that the future Apple Watch will have a "non-invasive blood glucose monitoring" function. Previously, Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly said that he hopes that Apple's greatest contribution can be placed in the field of health, and its products can cover all kinds of people.
At present, the meta-universe hardware product AR\VR headset device is still in the early stage, and the market competition has entered a white heat, and all forces are chasing me around product performance, but mostly in the entertainment field. Apple's headlamp targeting the big health market is a differentiating strategy, but the question is, how does the $3,000 price guarantee the crowd base?
The secret research team challenges the problem of eye diseases
The "due date" of Apple's first AR/VR headset has been postponed, and the official release date has been postponed to the annual global developer conference (WWDC) in June this year. But this does not delay the tech community from "digging material" for this new product, and there are rumors that the original Apple headset will be equipped with more than a dozen cameras, several of which will be used to map the area around the user.
This isn't just for augmented reality (AR) displays, as this feature allows the headset to project additional visual information to blind or visually impaired users, most likely providing audio indications for visually impaired people.
Observers in hardware circles point out that given Apple's deep concern about the accessibility of other devices in the past, its first product is likely to support some accessibility features.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman mentioned in the program that Apple specially set up an XDG team to start secretly developing the next generation of display technology, artificial intelligence, etc., to help people with visual problems, especially for users with AMD (age-related macular degeneration) and other diseases. AMD is a disease that causes blind spots, and Apple seems to be developing technology and product solutions for these diseases.
AMD (age-related macular degeneration) visual acuity comparison chart
It is understood that the XDG team belongs to Apple's hardware technology group, led by senior vice president Johny Srouji, and has hundreds of team members, although the number is smaller than the thousand-person development team that is developing Apple's mixed reality (MR) headset, but this small XDG has built-in "engineers and academic types" of members, has a lot of resources, and allows to try the feasibility of various ideas.
The XDG team focuses on the integration of the company's products with glucose pathology, but also on the visual difficulties encountered by people with eye diseases, such as the placement of related health aids in display technology, artificial intelligence and AR/VR devices.
At present, Meta Quest, Pico 4, PS VR2 and other VR headsets have come out, mostly focusing on the entertainment industry such as games, audio, and social networking, hardware marketing also focuses on performance attributes, the main chip has been upgraded, the weight is lighter, the picture quality is clearer, the battery is longer, etc., and few manufacturers will push functional marketing to the visually impaired people outside the general public. Compared with VR, AR that can be augmented reality seems to be more developable for visually impaired problems.
At present, there are specialized AR glasses companies on the market that have launched products aimed at solving users with AMD, such as Ocutrx Vision released an AR glasses Oculenz AR Wear with vision adjustment effect in June 2020, which uses algorithms to adjust video pixels to make the visual picture of macular degeneration patients clearer.
For Apple, which has a strong technical team, it is not impossible to make higher-quality hardware that serves the AMD crowd, and the company has tried many times in the health industry. Earlier it was reported that the XDG team has achieved significant results on the Apple Watch, which will make this smart watch have the function of "non-invasive blood glucose monitoring".
"Big Health" is practical, but the hardware is too expensive
Apple CEO Tim Cook hopes that Apple's greatest contribution can be in the field of health, so that products can reach all kinds of people.
This company has undoubtedly done the same. The Apple Watch with its health monitoring function has brought a lot of benefits to Apple. According to statistics released by market research agency Counterpoint, Apple Watch is in a dominant position in the smart watch market in 2022, with its shipments accounting for 34.1% globally and total revenue accounting for 60% worldwide.
Apple Watch's global shipment market share has increased
Since the release of the original Apple Watch in 2014, the health function on this smart watch has been continuously upgraded and iterated, so it has become an important reference factor for users' consumption choices. Today, Apple's research and development of big health products may be implemented in VR/AR headsets.
Cutting into the health field not only reflects Apple's consideration of the practicality of AR/VR hardware, but also a differentiated market strategy.
Grabbing the meta-universe market and developing hardware, Apple does not plan to use this headset only as an entertainment tool, how to make VR/AR headsets useful like mobile phones is also the direction of the company's thinking, and auxiliary health functions are an entry point. Apple Watch sales data has provided it with a basis for healthy market demand, and for AMD (age-related macular degeneration) and other visual impairment patients to provide visual products, AR\VR headsets for the eyes are the most direct.
In addition, VR/AR hardware manufacturers in the meta-universe field have already launched first, second and even fourth generation products, while the "due date" of Apple's headset has been repeatedly delayed, requiring new selling points to support new products.
Patent information shows that as early as 2015, Apple was already researching technology related to mixed reality (MR) headsets. But similar to Sony, before the outbreak of the meta-universe, the company's main focus was not on the track of virtual reality hardware equipment. Compared to Meta, Apple's metaverse hardware is obviously late.
To avoid the advantages of competitors and find a different way, Apple headset from the product auxiliary health level, is a strategy. The only problem is the price, the price of Apple's first headset is expected to be around $3,000, equivalent to more than 20,000 yuan, directly shielding the general public, how to reduce the price in 2024.
There is no mass base in the price, no matter how powerful the big health function is, Apple must first weigh the user's willingness to pay.
Will you pay for the health features of your AR/VR headset?
![People sit in the car, the heart flies in the sky, is VR in the car a gimmick?[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)