Apple doesn't like to talk about Metaverse, but they are distributing AR / VR like crazy.

2021 can be considered the first year of the global meta. On March 10, 2021, the concept of the Roblox meta-universe went public in the United States and the meta-world began to accelerate towards human vision. Some people are optimistic about the transition and call it “online memory”. Many adults have also reported standard metacosms wanting to eat crabs for the first time. The Meta company even changed its name directly from a commercial enterprise to a meta-universe enterprise.

Google's popular trend in the meta-universe

Big differences also have different setup steps. Tencent announced the buy-be-buy model on the Metaverse. In April, NVIDIA announced the announcement of the Omniverse, a timeshare simulation that really works for the industry. The giants have been making all kinds of moves in the meta-world arena, and the competition has become very tight. Many companies frequently create commercial interventions to analyze the content of the metaverse.

Apple products grew nearly 20% last month, reaching a market value of $ 2.94 trillion. The increase is due to the lack of iPhone sales on Wall Street, the belief that Apple's price measurement model is built into Apple cars, and rumors that Apple will launch an AR / VR device globally. meta in 2022.

Apple's share price changed last month

If available, Apple's configuration, Store No. 1, what will happen?

In fact, Apple has used the AR / VR industry inexpensively and filed for many patents. Bloomberg reports that some insiders have suggested that Apple is stepping up the pace of AR / VR devices, which will begin as early as 2022 or 2023 for interviews. Tianfeng Securities analyst Mingqi Guo has announced that Apple will announce AR / VR headsets in the fourth quarter of 2022. All signs point to Apple's AR / VR devices not far behind.

The main commodities are now estimated

According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is currently developing two devices. One is a VR device named internally "N301", capable of movies, games and social interactions, and is expected to launch as early as 2022. AR glasses, internal code name "N421", still in the research phase of core technology, with a release date of 2023.

On November 26, 2021, Guo Mingqi announced that Apple will announce AR headsets in the fourth quarter of 2022. Apple's AR headsets will feature flagship chips with performance comparable to Sony's M1 and 4K Mirco OLED words. The target is 10. The iPhone is expected to be replaced later this year and shipments will exceed 1 billion units.

According to the report, Apple's AR headset uses a Mac-level processor because it has to adjust the process to eight lenses at a time, and it has high performance requirements rather than iPhone. This AR headset is equipped with two chips: a high end (Mac level processor) and a low end.

Currently, most of the chips used in AR headsets are mobile chips based on cell phone SoC design, for example, Qualcomm's XR series chips are used in mainstream AR headsets, while XR2 chips from Qualcomm are compatible with the Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 865. Mid-size version of the 888. If the Apple AR headset adopts a chip with performance close to M1, the power consumption of the Apple AR headset will be better than the good things of same, so the tasks that can be counted or used can be very important.

In addition, this AR headset eliminates the independent operation of cellphones and computers, supports a wide range of applications, is not a large gaming machine, and can support both AR and VR functionality. Apple is looking to replace the iPhone with AR headphones, a goal that seems a bit far away now. The main reason is that AR headphones are not as popular as they are today and their functionality extends far beyond cell phones. The goal is still a long way off, but Apple's will is stable. Besides Cook's cover letter, Apple's position in the area of ​​patents and investments is still very strong.

Purchase and purchase Patent pending

According to incomplete zinc industry statistics, Apple has acquired more than 20 AR / VR patents and more than 400 AR / VR patents have been issued.

The zinc industry has already identified a major advance in Apple AR products in three areas: product forecasting, key technologies and software ecology.

Gesture Recognition, Apple acquired PrimeSense in 2013, a team working on 3D motion capture. The company has developed the smallest 3D sensor in the world. Based on the certification issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2021, Apple is currently filing a patent application with the company to use eye tracking and 3D tracking technology. , which will allow the AR glasses to have a sense of direction. Apple also filed for a patent that estimates the location of objects in front of you using the installed data.

Facial recognition, Apple has already acquired Faceshift, Emotient, RealFace, Regaind, Perceptio and other facial recognition groups, and in fact, Apple has already started using 3D models for its front cameras before September 2017, when it was released. iPhone X.. The device produces 3D facial recognition (Face ID), so Apple released the Home button. To this end, Apple has also filed for a patent that identifies players via AR as Face ID.

For localization, Apple has become such a group as WiFiSLAM, Flyby Media, Indoor.io, etc. patent.

Apple acquired German AR company Metaio in May 2015. Metaio is a company specializing in mobile AR applications. We have created an app that allows you to view virtual IKEA furniture space and photos in your home. Users can also visit the ruins of the Berlin Wall in the virtual world.

At the end of 2015, Apple acquired FaceShift, the company that develops facial recognition software. FaceShift has the ability to use the camera to monitor faces in real time. Can be used to create animated avatars. Special teams of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" use FaceShift technology to make alien faces more beautiful.

Apple also acquired Israeli company Prime PrimeSense. The company developed motion-sensing cameras and the technology was used in the early Xbox Kinect cameras. This knowledge of gestures is important for AR devices because there are no convenient controls. Microsoft's HoloLens, for example, recognizes gestures to navigate the user interface.

Table 1 Some Apple acquisitions or partnerships in AR / VR areas

Source: 01 Blockchain is designed as a data source.

AR / VR software ecology

Apple's layouts in AR / VR software are the fastest, clearest, and arguably the biggest. In early 2017, at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2017 (WWDC 2017), Apple released ARKit, an AR software development tool that supports engines like Unity and Unreal. At Apple's Global Developer Conference 2021 (WWDC 2021), Apple updated the device to its fifth version, ARKit 5. We also released AR Maps, Object Capture, RealityKit 2, and other new AR features.

Cartes Apple AR

Apple announced that there are now over 10,000 iOS apps that support augmented reality. As a zinc industry, Apple has accelerated the rapid development of content and patents over the past two years. According to incomplete statistics for the zinc industry, Apple received more than 90 patents in a single year in 2021. According to incomplete data from Zhishi, Apple won 11 patents related to AR headsets in 2021 alone.

Details of AR glasses patent application acquired by Apple in 2021

Source: smart things

Cook doesn't like to talk about Metaverse and likes to call it AR / VR.

Under the wave of the recent meta-world. Cook doesn't like Metaverse, but that doesn't affect Apple's insane investment in AR. The news that Apple is announcing an AR / VR headset has been creating a buzz in the market for a long time. AR / VR headsets undoubtedly indicate that Apple is frequently used in AR.

Despite the revelations of the meta-world period, one thing is certain: you can't be fluid if you miss. In the past five years, Cook has advertised 15 times as a sponsor of AR / VR. He believes AR / VR will be Apple's business growth and that Apple has already invested in AR / VR. We have a research and development team of nearly 1,000 people.

Apple hopes to dominate the VR / AR market again

AR / VR devices could be Apple's next killer. Guo Mingqi pointed out in the report that Apple's AR head display has three advantages over other competitors: It means that it has Mac-level computing power, that it can run on its own, that it can run on its own. 'it doesn't need to rely on a Mac or iPhone and it can support multiple apps. . It is not limited to a specific request.

In addition to the introduction of the AR / VR headset, the report also states that Apple could launch the AR / VR headset by 2022 or early 2023. The AR glasses could be available in 2025. Notice, the goal of Apple is replacing iPhones with AR / VR devices in 10 years. Currently, the iPhone has over a billion active users. It also means that Apple will sell at least 1 billion AR / VR devices in 10 years.

Regarding the price, no final decision has been taken. According to some media, the cost of commercial products is $ 2,000 to $ 3,000 (12,752 to 19,129 yuan) due to the advanced technology. Guo Mingqi said the device will cost around $ 1,000 (6,376 yuan), compared to the high-end iPhone.

Apple is now inferior to its competitors.

Apple appears to have missed the upturn in 2016, the second wave of AR / VR devices by 2020, and the meta-coast by 2021. Meanwhile, other companies are more active. stick figure cookies "to traders.

Meta entered the AR / VR market by acquiring Oculus in 2014, and has continued to launch commercial products. At the end of 2015, Xiaomi set up a research center focused on new technologies such as virtual reality and intelligent robots.

In 2016, Xiaomi released two VR glasses, the toy version costs 49 yuan and the full version costs 199 yuan. However, these are still early VR boxes, similar to Google Cardboard, which need to be connected to a mobile phone and rely on the power metering of mobile devices if VR.

Vivo announced Water Cube's Vivo VR in November 2016 and Huawei announced HUAWEI VR in April 2019. HUAWEI VR is priced at 599 yuan, supports 2K resolution, has 95 ° visibility (FOV), correction of myopia from 0 to 700 degrees and other functions.

In May 2018, Xiaomi launched the all-in-one Xiaomi Mi VR technology, integrated with the entry-level VR device Oculus. Lei Jun said at the time that Xiaomi and Oculus had been working together for a year and a half to develop these products.

In September 2019, Huawei announced the VR device called HUAWEI VR Glass, with tri-fold optical design and 166g weight, this VR device is really recognized by everyone because of its thin and short design. VR glasses shape.

HUAWEIVR Glass Equipment

Source: Huawei official website

And the meta continues to lead to the success of AR / VR devices. As of March 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus for $ 2 billion in cash and stocks, and in 2016 it launched the Oculus Rift CV1, and in October 2020 it launched the Oculus Quest 2 for $ 299. Product, it has received numerous awards. Along with the low prices, software and hardware upgrades, beautiful graphics, and a bit of giddiness were selling points. Many VR / AR web devices list Oculus Quest 2 as the best VR / AR device today.

Source : site Web de PC GAMER

VR / AR meta-investments pay off as well. Virtual Marketplace meta-sales are more likely to be related to sales of hardware, software, or games. Meta sold 1.4 million Oculus Quest 2 devices in the fourth quarter of 2020. Priced at $ 300, Oculus Quest 2 generated $ 420 million in sales. Meta generated a total of $ 28.1 billion in quarterly revenue, and Oculus Quest 2 accounted for roughly 1.5% of Meta's quarterly revenue.

Source: Cantor Fitzgerald, in millions of dollars

Meta income, black is declared income, gray is other income

Source: 10-K data submitted by Meta to the SEC

In the first quarter, Apple fell. But Apple is still releasing reliable and mature products. Let's see when Apple can surprise us and become a major player in VR / AR devices.