[VRAR Planet original manuscript, reprinting without permission is prohibited]
It's time to take stock of the week's XR events, what are the big events in the XR space this week?
domestic
Let's start with China. This week, there is new news for the legendary PICO 4S. Foreign XR blogger @Luna broke more information about the specifications of the PICO 4S in the latest post.
Among them, it is claimed that the PICO 4S (tentative name) will be equipped with a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 with a resolution of 2160×2160 per eye, a 90Hz refresh rate, a Pancake lens, mechanical IPD adjustment, and a no-tracking bracelet. In addition, this product is claimed to have MR capabilities.
Luna said he has looked at multiple development kits and talked to several people familiar with ByteDance's next-generation mixed reality headset, and that the material that has now leaked could be the final version.
Combined with the previous news, the PICO 4S will be equipped with 12GB RAM, although the specific storage capacity (ROM) has not yet been clarified, but referring to the specifications of the PICO 4, there may be options of 128GB or 256GB. The PICO 4S will also support 6GHz Wi-Fi, which means it has Wi-Fi 6E or even Wi-Fi 7 capabilities to provide a faster and more stable network connection. Overall, the specs are still very strong, and it depends on when PICO will release this new product.
This Friday, the national version of Apple Vision Pro is also officially on sale, available 256GB, 512GB, 1TB three versions, the price starts at 29999 yuan.
June 28, Shanghai Jing'an store
At the Shanghai Jing'an store on June 28, the circular experience area was full of experiencers, and it is said that the demonstration experience time in Shanghai has been scheduled until July 3.
But it seems that there are many people who experience it, and there are still a few users who actually buy it. It is said that there was no queue at the Apple store in Sanlitun, Beijing, except for a few "fruit fans" who took the headset, and some consumers who came to experience the headset. It is worth mentioning that there were no "scalpers" at the scene to buy Apple's new Vision Pro. This phenomenon is in stark contrast to the popularity of Apple's Vision Pro when it was released in the US market.
In addition to the launch of PICO 4S and the Chinese version of Vision Pro, there is another domestic news worth paying attention to this week. On June 27, it was reported that China Mobile Terminal Company, Xiaomi, the popular Qitian Group and Qualcomm Technology Co., Ltd. jointly announced that the four parties jointly created the first 5G Advanced (5G-A) high-frequency 10 Gigabit test platform based on Xiaomi 14 Pro and applied to the XR field, and took the lead in applying it to the popular Qitian multi-concurrency, large-space XR competitive game business.
This platform has advanced technical features and is expected to inject new vitality into the development of the XR field in China.
international
Goal
Internationally, there is a lot of news about Meta this week. Let's start with VR. It is reported that the Meta Quest 2 is currently out of stock at Meta Stores and major retailers in the United States. While the Quest 2 is still in stock in most other supported countries, the US is Meta's largest market, and this news suggests that sales of the headset may be entering the final weeks and are about to make way for the next generation of new products.
Over the past 15 months, there has been strong evidence that Meta is preparing to release a cheaper alternative to the Quest 3 to replace the Quest 2 in its lineup, which could cost around $300.
Meta's VR products have always been known as the entry point for VR gamers, and the latest Quest 3 has received a good response after its launch, and although the price has been increased accordingly, it is a better choice for professional users or gamers who are looking for a higher performance experience.
Recently, according to the statistics of Daven Bigelow, a foreign VR enthusiast, by tracking the number of people who experience the "First Encounters" exclusive to Quest 3, it can be seen that Quest 3 has sold at least 1 million units. This figure doesn't include users who skip experiences or set their profiles to private, so it's likely that the Quest 3 will sell well over 1 million.
In order to bring users a better experience, Meta has been working hard. Recently, there has been evidence that Meta is still developing PC VR cloud game streaming for Quest in order to stream PC VR game content to the Quest headset, allowing users to enjoy a high-quality VR gaming experience without having a high-performance PC.
In addition, Meta Horizon Worlds is now available in all countries where the Quest headset is sold, bringing the metaverse experience to more users around the world.
Meta's new products are also one of the focuses of attention. In addition to the Quest 3S, which is about to replace the Quest 2, the next high-end product, the Meta Quest Pro 2, has also attracted a lot of attention. Recently, according to the Quest headset firmware information, the company's variable focus lens technology (varifocal lens) is expected to be applied to the upcoming products, and industry insiders speculate that it may be applied to the Meta Quest Pro 2.
In addition to the VR field, Meta is currently putting more effort into AR as well. According to previous news, Meta claimed that it would unveil the first real AR glasses at this year's Connect conference. And now, in a recent interview, Zuckerberg revealed that the team is "almost ready" to show off a prototype of the real hologlasses, saying that "everyone who has experienced the device so far...... They all felt excited."
It is understood that Meta's first AR glasses have been developed for nearly nine years and tens of billions of dollars have been invested, with the goal of bringing Zuckerberg an "iPhone moment". This R&D process fully demonstrates Meta's emphasis and investment in AR technology. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said in an interview that the AR glasses may be the most advanced product ever made in the field of consumer electronics.
As the Connect conference approaches, we are expected to witness the official debut of this epoch-making AR glasses.
In addition, Meta's achievements in AI are also obvious to all. Recently, Niantic is said to have integrated Meta AI into Peridot to enhance AR pet intelligent behavior. By showcasing the potential of AI-enhanced AR pets, Niantic and Meta are providing new ways for more interactive and intelligent virtual companions in future games and apps.
But there's one company that's not so happy with Meta's AI model, and that's Apple. Over the weekend, it was reported that Apple was discussing a partnership with Meta to bring generative AI to Apple Intelligence. But soon, the debunking of the rumor came that Apple allegedly refused to cooperate with Meta's AI several months ago due to privacy concerns.
And, the latest Bloomberg report suggests that Apple has never seriously considered a partnership with Meta. Instead, Apple has reached an agreement with OpenAI for ChatGPT to be integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, and is also working with Google to plan to integrate Gemini, a large language model, into its operating system, and is in discussions with artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
Apple's partnership with Meta fell through because it didn't trust Meta's work on privacy and security. In fact, in recent years, Apple and Meta have become fierce competitors in various areas such as AI, home devices (smart speakers, smart displays) and mixed reality headsets.
Now that Apple has been mentioned, let's continue to take stock of Apple's new news this week.
apple
In addition to the aforementioned partnership with Meta, there was also news this week that Apple is working on a cheaper headset codenamed N107, with a target price of between $1,500 and $2,000, aimed at attracting more mainstream consumers. The headset is said to have a narrower field of view and requires a Mac or iPhone to be connected to it, similar to the logic of the Apple Watch.
While the Vision Pro's slow start prompted management to reconsider plans for the device, the company still wanted to make the headset a multi-product category. The inexpensive version of the Vision Pro is a product that is aimed at the average user.
In addition, Apple is said to be still working on the second-generation Vision Pro headset, which is internally codenamed N109. It is expected that the product will come with a faster processor and an upgraded external camera, and the appearance will be broadly similar to the current model. But it will be available no earlier than the end of 2026.
In addition to mixed reality headsets, smart glasses are also a hot area of product that Apple is working on. However, according to foreign media, the long-rumored "Apple glasses" may take longer than previously expected to be on the market, and it is currently expected to take another 2-3 years, and may be launched in 2026 or 2027 at the earliest.
Although the global VR/AR market is growing, the market for AR smart glasses is still relatively niche. This may also affect Apple's R&D progress and market launch plans for "Apple Glass".
develop
Hardware technology has been one of the important factors limiting the development of the XR field. According to foreign media news on June 27, the Japanese display company JDI has recently made a major breakthrough in the field of display technology, successfully developing a low-cost ultra-high-resolution display with the highest resolution (>2500 ppi) in the world, which can be used for virtual reality head-mounted displays.
JDI's technological breakthroughs have made it possible to have affordable VR displays with extraordinary imaging and highly realistic immersive user experiences that were previously only available on high-cost silicon substrates. The cost of hardware manufacturing has decreased, and the cost of entry for users has the opportunity to be reduced, which will bring more people the opportunity to experience VR.
In the field of AI, the ChatGPT large model technology released by OpenAI has set off a new wave of artificial intelligence. For a long time, OpenAI was in the limelight, and it was not often known as the "steam engine moment", "iPhone moment" or even "the moment of drilling wood for fire".
In this context, there are also companies that are quietly delving in, looking forward to challenging ChatGPT's "supremacy". According to foreign media Business Insider, the American technology giant Amazon is developing an artificial intelligence chat tool, codenamed "Metis" for its internal project, which Amazon hopes to compete directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The prospect of technological development is an area that is both exciting and challenging. As technology continues to advance, we can foresee a future where technology will have a profound impact on many fronts.
Recently, AWE Asia 2024 and MWC 2024 have both come to be launched, and 5G, AI, and XR have become high-frequency words in the current technology field. We look forward to the further development of technology to create a better future for us.
Next week, we'll also bring you a week's worth of XR content at this time, so stay tuned.
Text/R Star Man
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