Will Vision Pro extend the industry’s life for another ten years? There is no savior for AR entrepreneurship!

Seven years! It came out after a thousand calls.

On June 6, Apple officially unveiled its first MR head-mounted display, Apple Vision Pro, at the WWDC Global Developers Conference.

Visible lenses, single-eye 4K high-definition, eye movement interaction, hand tracking... The way this product has been launched countless times in the past eight years can be described as quite "explosive".

In the past many years, entrepreneurs and developers in the domestic AR|VR field have not been able to usher in the explosive period of the market. After a long period of downturn, Apple's entry may greatly enhance the confidence of practitioners.

Zhu Mingming, founder of Rokid, a domestic AR smart glasses company, said that from today on, there is only AR, no need to mention XR. In the future, the difference will only be between VST and OST technologies and products.

Long-termist Apple once again stands at the center of the global technology industry. In Cook's eyes, "Just as the Mac brought us into the era of personal computing, the iPhone brought us into the era of mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will bring us into the era of spatial computing."

1

Throw away the handle and navigate with your eyes

Define human-computer interaction again

From the outside, Apple’s first head-mounted display, the Vision Pro, resembles a pair of ski goggles. It is said that the design of the headset is very clever. It has an independent battery pack and can be controlled by the user's eyes, hands and voice.

Although it is positioned as an AR device, in Apple’s view, Vision Pro can be regarded as a new computer that seamlessly integrates the real world and the electronic world. According to Apple, this is the first Apple product that is “invisible but visible”.

It can be controlled with only eyes/hands/voice, making "transparent" possible, bringing us closer and closer to science fiction movies.

What’s more sci-fi? We are no longer limited to screens. The surrounding space has become an infinite canvas. Here you not only have the freedom to use any application, but you can also resize them to any size you like.

The CG demonstration given at the press conference, what will the actual effect seen by human eyes be like? Will it have the same grainy pixels as previous similar devices? According to reports, Vision Pro uses 11 cameras and sensors to continuously scan the surrounding environment and move the environment around you into the virtual space as it is in real time. It is then projected onto your retina by two small micro-OLED displays. Each block is packed with more pixels than a 4K TV.

There are also enthusiastic bloggers who post pictures directly comparing the differences between previous VR products and Vision Pro:

Another highlight is human-computer interaction. Every iteration of human-computer interaction has cross-generational significance. For example, the emergence of personal computers such as Mac/PC is closely related to the mouse. Without a mouse, you have to rely on keyboard, touchpad, etc., which will significantly reduce efficiency and experience. Focusing on the mouse, a graphical interface emerged with the development of Xerox. Jobs led the team to greatly optimize the detailed interaction of the graphical interface, and then truly created the era of personal computers.

This is also hard not to think of the release of the iPhone. Jobs killed off the full keyboard and touch pen. He mentioned that except for a few buttons, all the iPhone's interactive modes are touch-screen, tools that everyone is born with. "finger".

Watching the promotional video is amazing, Apple XR’s human-computer interaction solution is so elegant that you can easily place your hands on the sofa or your lap. When someone across from you comes to shake hands, you can reach out and do so seamlessly. This interaction will almost certainly become standard. In this sense, Vision Pro is certainly the most groundbreaking.

Apple also demonstrated to the outside world multiple scenarios that combine the real world and the virtual world. For example, the Safari browser window, messages and Apple Music window are all presented in front of you, all while hovering over the table in the real world. Even if a colleague comes to deliver items, it will not be affected.

What is commendable is that users will not be isolated from the people around them because of wearing the headset.

When people wear this device to communicate with others, it will display your eyes through a system called EyeSight, and the camera in the device will capture facial expressions and display them on an external screen. The other party can display the screen according to content to determine your status. And if you are using it immersedly, such as watching a movie, the luminous screen will hide your eyes.

2

Inspire the industry to drive the supply chain

Will the industry continue to live for ten years?

After the release of Vision Pro, domestic AR entrepreneurs were extremely excited. Although the Apple press conference was already into the early hours of the morning in China, many domestic entrepreneurial teams engaged in the AR field were almost all watching.

Many people believe that Apple’s superior product definition ability is unquestionable. The launch of Apple products will have a directional boost to the entire industry.

The entire industry will soon make its first and second generation products in line with Apple. It may be that the third generation can be aligned with Apple's first generation products.

On the other hand, it is to promote the maturity of the supply chain. Although the entrepreneurial team has little decision-making power in the supply chain, a strong Apple can promote the maturity of the core supply chain, which will also benefit the entire industry.

Is this really true?

As Zhu Mingming said: "There is no savior in AR entrepreneurship. Explorers in the industry still need to work harder to prove themselves, reserve enough food and grass, and fight a long-lasting and magnificent war."

In fact, around 2014, the VR industry broke out once. HTC, which had suffered a setback in its smartphones, chose All In VR. Chinese technology manufacturers such as Huawei, LeTV, Xiaomi, Baofeng, Dapeng, iQiyi, etc. all ended up. Most of these players have nothing to gain.

Judging from the results, the VR industry failed to set off the same technology craze as the mobile Internet. The only technology giants that still insist on focusing on XR are Facebook and Microsoft. The former focuses on VR and the latter strongly promotes AR.

The performance of existing players is also unsatisfactory. Whether it is overseas Meta or domestic ByteDance, although they have invested heavily, their products have not been accepted by the public, and the XR track has not matured. In the past two years, the XR track has seen a cooling trend, with many major manufacturers withdrawing and the number and scale of financing also decreasing.

What the market needs is players with more product power and appeal, and we also look forward to more innovative performances.

Apple Vision Pro makes a lot of sense no matter which perspective you look at it. Many AR industry practitioners and companies hope that Apple can once again lead the innovation of AR devices, just like it led computers, mobile phones, watches, and headsets in the past. At the same time, Cook has been in charge of Apple for more than ten years, but doubts about him have always existed. The core is that he has not brought revolutionary changes at the product level. AirPods are good, but they are still too small compared to personal computing devices.

Apple has always adhered to the principle of not being an opportunist. Even in the first two years of the rise of the Metaverse, it will not waver in its bottom line. This time, with the release of Apple Vision Pro, it can be said that Apple is ready, and the entire VR/AR industry has finally waited for the "east wind".

"AR is a big idea, just like a smartphone." Cook's expectations for AR are like Lei Jun's expectations for Xiaomi Motors.

Some industry insiders pointed out that until we get started with the experience, we still make too much judgment on Apple Vision Pro. It does bring many fresh features and ideas, but the actual experience is another matter.

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