Industry insiders count the disappointments, Apple AR devices are not the "savior" Apple | Industry | Savior

After seven years of delay and multiple delays, Apple finally launched the industry's long-awaited VisionPro on June 6th Beijing time, priced at $3499.

Compared to the industry's heated state of excitement, the performance of the secondary market for this product is more calm. At the close of the US stock market, Apple's stock price was $179.58, down 0.76%, and fell 0.28% after hours. In the A-share market, as of the time of writing, MR concept stocks have continued to decline, with Shuangxiang Shares falling below the limit in the afternoon and Zhaowei Electromechanical previously falling below the limit.

In the eyes of industry insiders, although this product can bring new hope to the AR industry, it has not solved the problems of cost-effectiveness and audience that have always existed in the industry. In addition, Apple's lack of further disclosure in the field of AI has also raised doubts in the industry.

Although Apple CEO Tim Cook referred to VisionPro as "a brand new augmented reality platform, a revolutionary new product," just as the iPhone took us into the era of mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will take us into the era of spatial computing. But the industry may not be so optimistic.

On a technical level, Apple Glass is indeed innovative. The demonstration process showed that the product can be operated directly through the eyes, voice, and hands, but this also directly brings a high selling price of nearly 25000 RMB.

Fu Liang, a senior observer in the communication industry, said that firstly, the price of 25000 yuan is not offered to the general public; Secondly, some of the technologies showcased in the powerful performance of the Apple Vision Pro during the press conference were originally the characteristics of the head display, and most of them did not have exclusive advantages. Moreover, many of the features were customized versions developed to adapt to the weaknesses of the head display. In Fu Liang's view, this press conference is more for the developer community to see.

Former Apple Marketing Director Michael Gartenberg previously stated in a media interview that Apple's headsets are a risky bet because similar headsets currently lack a major market. The sales of other competitors in the field, such as Magic Leap and Microsoft's HoloLens, are also impressive.

Gartenberg stated that unless Apple's headphones have some surprising uses outside of gaming, which is the only mass market use we see, they seem too expensive and the rumored external battery pack is too large.

This concern is not limited to Apple devices. In Gattenberg's view, unless Apple or any other company can prove a truly convincing reason for a large number of users to want to wear AR or add VR to their home entertainment choices, this technology will be difficult to widely adopt. According to an IDC report, in the first quarter of 2023, China's AR/VR market shipped 173000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 37.6%.

Liu Weihua, founder of the XR industry information data platform Yingweiwang, commented in a post that compared to VR all-in-one machines, Vision Pro does not support VR games and vigorously develops film and television entertainment and other mild interactive entertainment, which has disappointed it. At the same time, abandoning the most powerful VR device consumer group also represents Apple's courage.

In addition, the industry's greater disappointment with Apple's recent release is that ChatGPT has brought about a "new era of iPhones", and Apple has not updated its progress in AI. An industry insider likened Apple's AR glasses to a "carriage" for building strong performance, but what the industry needs now is a truly innovative "steam engine".

With the popularity of ChatGPT, the industry closely monitors the actions of giants including Microsoft, Google, and Apple. When asking CEO Li Zhifei outside, the two giants have chosen seemingly completely different paths in the face of the "iPhone" moment of AI: Microsoft fully embraces the future of AGI, while Apple seems to have given up selling the future and firmly moved towards the luxury series.

Compared to Microsoft, Google, and others who have already applied AIGC capabilities to almost all of their own ecosystems, Li Zhifei believes that Apple has not presented an AIGC layout this time, but deliberately avoided or downplayed the AI theme. Perhaps it is still laying a deeper strategic foundation, but being too mysterious has made it increasingly lacking AI influence and gradually distancing itself from the first tier of AIGC.

Apple has taken a big step forward in the hardware aspect of the metaverse, but this is still far from widespread adoption and affordability.

"The metaverse that focuses on immersive experiences should belong to the era five or ten years later, while the current era is dominated by big models and AIGC," said Li Zhifei.

Yin Sheng, an Internet analyst, said that one of the biggest breakthroughs of Apple's head display may be at the interaction level, but it is also facing another interaction revolution that is coming almost at the same time, that is, AI driven intelligent interaction. To some extent, intelligent interaction is to reduce the number of interactions required for the same task. How these two types of interactions will combine and compete in the future depends on human preferences for interactive senses and the value that each interaction can bring.

A senior figure in the VR industry said that Apple's entry into the XR industry is great, but Apple is just a small landmark in the industry, not a watershed for the life and death of the industry. It is also impossible to expect an XR device priced in five digits RMB to break through the sluggish C-end market. The XR industry has gone through too many dark moments, and what this industry lacks is not a savior, but deep thinking and patience.

The person said that if an industry practitioner is still using Apple AR glasses as a savior, then the person should reflect on whether their company still needs to exist in the industry. "Don't expect a single product to turn the industry around, let alone a single device to turn your company around. Walking steadily step by step is more important than anything else."

Rokid founder and CEO Zhu Mingming acknowledged that Apple's AR products have not solved core issues such as cost-effectiveness and audience in the current industry. He told reporters that Apple did not perform well in this press conference, including pre heating and post release products. In his view, Apple is no longer the Apple of the past. In terms of product strength, China can also make first-class products and even lead the next revolution. AR entrepreneurship has no savior, and this press conference will not bring more confidence to the industry and market. Explorers in the industry still need to work harder to prove themselves, reserve enough food and grass, and fight a lasting and magnificent war.