Apple's Vision Pro isn't available yet, but the company is already enjoying the benefits of spatial computing -

Vision的距离 Pro正式上市的时间越来越近，尽管此前媒体多次爆料VisionPro在量产方面面面临着良率低的问题，但在秋季新闻发布会上，库克再次强调Vision Pro将于明年年初按时发布，苹果还为iPhone设计了空间视频拍摄的新功能，展示Vision Pro对苹果非凡的意义。

Apple may have come up with the exact definition of the spatial computing era. If Vision Pro is competitive, it can be divided into four aspects: high-definition display, spatial perception, natural interaction and super chip. Although domestic manufacturers currently do not have the ability to create a full range of Vision benchmark Pro products, if a product can approach Apple's level in one or several aspects and provide more products than Vision Pro at a more competitive price, it is expected to become Vision Pro replacement, enjoy the dividends of the era opened by Apple.

This is not a prediction of the future, it is a fact of what happened.

According to China Business Daily, Xiaopai Technology, a domestic hardware manufacturer focusing on the high-end head-mounted display market, released the VR head-mounted display Pimax Crystal last year, and its global sales continued to set monthly sales records. Later, the relevant person in charge of Xiaopai also confirmed to us that Pimax Since Crystal was officially released in June this year, shipments in the first three months alone exceeded the full-year shipments of the previous generation last year. Currently, Pimax crystal is in short supply globally, and Pimax is also actively expanding production capacity to further shorten product delivery cycles and more effectively meet market demand during the upcoming Black Friday and Christmas shopping seasons.

Obviously, Xiaomi, which mainly focuses on high-end headsets, has taken the lead in reaping the dividends of spatial computing.

Pimax Why is Crystal so popular all of a sudden?

“This VR headset made me never want to go back to my Quest 2. Alannn Truly, a well-known foreign XR hardware analyst, gave feedback after experiencing Pimax if it was Crystal.

Translated into Chinese, that is "this VR headset" (Pimax Crystal) I never want to go back to Questtt 2. "Alantruly said in the review article that the Pimax Crystal performs extremely well in PCVR mode, outperforming almost every other VR headset currently on the market. In contrast, the Quest is super viable in the VR space. Instead, it's like "from "Ancient technology". Alantruly also mentioned that visual effects are the most important indicator of the quality of VR headsets, and Pimax Crystal has obviously reached the best level of current VR headsets.

Such compliments are not unique. MRTV, 140,000 subscribers on Youtube (MIXED REALITY TV) Since this year, Pimax has published many articles about Pimax. Crystal’s evaluation video, the host Sebastian Ang mentioned in the evaluation video: “Ang said in the evaluation video: “Pimax Crystal has the best visual effects and highest resolution among all the VR headsets I have reviewed, and it is also the product I most want to recommend to others. "Sebastian Ang shows you the performance of Pimax crystal in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 in the video. Sebastian Ang repeatedly exclaimed: "The feeling of experiencing simulated flight under an 8K display is simply incredible. "Sebastian Ang shows you the performance of Pimax crystal in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 in the video. Sebastian Ang repeatedly exclaimed: "The feeling of experiencing simulated flight under an 8K display is simply incredible. "

Then we found out in the MSFS forum (Microsoft Flight Simulator Forum) that Pimax received a really good response from the flight simulation enthusiasts. Everyone responded well to Pimax. In the flight simulation experience, Crystal’s performance was full of praise. . A forum user ("tanNinetyfour", a well-known blogger in the field of simulated flight) who registered in 2014 stated in the evaluation article that Pimax Crystal allowed him to completely immerse himself in the "aerial world" of 8K. He called Pimax crystal for simulated flight enthusiasts. Here comes "Flight Simulation Experience Innovation".

From the above well-known VR media reviews and related forum user posts, it is not difficult to find that Pimax is the core highlight of Crystal that everyone is full of praise for:high resolution, which is what we often sayHD display. As we mentioned earlier, in the era of spatial computing defined by Apple, the key indicators of the quality of spatial computing equipment are high-definition display, spatial perception, natural interaction and super chips. High-definition display has always been the core competitiveness of small schools.

In terms of display, Pimax Crystal is equipped with dual 4K displays with a total resolution of 8K, and the display clarity is no less than that of Apple’s Vision Pro; in addition, the maximum viewing angle of Pimax Crystal can reach 120°, which is currently the largest display on the market. The viewing angles of some shipped VR heads are concentrated between 90°-105°. In terms of high-definition display, the parameters of Pimax Crystal are close to the level of Vision Pro, but the price of Pimax Crystal is only half of Vision Pro. Therefore, Pimax is more cost-effective and Crystal naturally becomes a substitute for Visionn Pro. This also allows Pimax to stand out on the eve of the era of spatial computing and take advantage of the dividends of spatial computing first.

Apple thinking VS Internet thinking

作为世界科技巨头，苹果一直是引领科技产业发展的风向标，Vision 自然，Pro的发布也不例外。苹果的正式进入不仅向世界宣布，通用个人计算平台已经开始从移动计算时代跨越到空间计算时代，而且将整个虚拟现实市场暂时分为两条完全不同的发展路径：一条是以苹果和小派为代表的“性能第一、价格逐渐下降”的苹果路径，另一条是以Meta和字节跳动为主导的“出货第一、低价强推”的互联网路径。

Apple Vision Before the release of Pro, the logic of the entire XR industry was Meta. For these Internet companies, the familiar business model defined by Internet companies such as ByteDance was based on huge users. Therefore, the mainstream of the XR industry has always been to use relatively mature, low-cost solutions in the supply chain, further reduce sales prices through subsidies, capture as many users as possible, and bind them to their own content ecosystem.

In September 2018, Meta released the first-generation all-in-one machine Questa 1. Questt released the Questttttt1 iteration product 2 in 2020. It can be seen that Meta has been pursuing a low-price strategy when the entire industry chain is not fully mature. And trying to produce a virtual reality product that "everyone can like" at a low cost of about $350. Meta has made great efforts for this. Quest 2 is indeed a product that allows users to experience the fun of virtual reality, but in essence, its core performance indicators still cannot reach a level above the qualified line. As far as its 4K eye resolution display effect is concerned, it obviously cannot satisfy many virtual reality users who have higher requirements for display effects. Even Meta's latest release of Quest3 still uses a dual-eye 4K-level display compared to the Quest2 released three years ago, and the single-sided resolution of less than 15% has only increased.

From the perspective of shipments, the development path of Internet companies is still the mainstream of the XR industry, but this path also faces considerable challenges.

On the one hand, because the path of Internet companies such as Meta has played an important role in technology promotion and the education market, but limited by the overall technical level of the industry chain and low-cost, low-price business strategies, 4K eye solutions are generally chosen, with total pixels The deficiencies in angular resolution (PPD) and field of view (FOV) user experience are very obvious. Users "spontaneously" become virtual reality users, causing significant obstacles. It is difficult for users to maintain and improve their activities after purchasing the head display.

But even so, Internet companies such as Meta have strongly launched entry-level headsets, which have had a great impact on the original mid-to-high-end market, which is dominated by PCVR.

First of all, for most users who have just started to experience virtual reality, the use of mainstream all-in-one products has lowered their expectations for VR experience, as well as their expectations for PCs and their desire to purchase VR;

Secondly, Meta dominates the publicity volume in the virtual reality market. The vast majority of users who didn't know much about virtual reality before think that Quest2 is the most advanced virtual reality head display. If Quest2 isn't good enough, then VR isn't good enough, so they just quit VR;

Finally, because Meta dominates the publicity of the virtual reality market, the vast majority of users believe that the 300 beautiful Meta is a reasonable price for a virtual reality head display, while the price of high-end virtual reality head displays represented by the 8K series is too high.

These three reasons are the ones that have had a huge impact on the PC VR market over the past two years. Except for Pi, most VR manufacturers such as PC Valve have slowed down the pace of new product development and release. Index has not released a new machine in four years. In addition to Index In addition to VR, the HP Reverbbbb G2, a PC VR device that was once well received by the market, is now gradually fading out of people's sight. Last year, there were rumors that HP was about to end the production of Reverb G2 and withdraw from the virtual reality market.

After the release of Apple Vision Pro, the overwhelming media publicity sent a clear signal. Consumers realize that monocular 4K is the resolution that VR headsets should have. Spending thousands of dollars on a VR headset is a reasonable consumption behavior. Such products are only entry-level low-end VR headsets, which directly reduce consumers’ decision-making costs and activate the needs of high-end user groups.

But for those high-end VR users, once they see Apple Vision and Pro's all-round high-performance performance, they will inevitably stimulate their expectations for a high-performance VR experience. Therefore, this part of the user base will begin to seek the same level of VR experience as possible with Vision's large amount of VR game content on the Steam platform. Judging from the products on the market, currently and for a long time to come, only the Wintel PC VR combination can perfectly meet the needs of this group of users. At this point in time, Xiaopai’s efforts in developing high-end PC VR over the past few years have finally paid off. Pimax It can be said that Crystal has no competitors, so it is not surprising that it can achieve such results.

However, it seems we can capture some new trends from current news and disclosures. At present, Apple and Pioneer may not be the only ones actively deploying in the high-end leading market. It was reported some time ago that Meta and LG Electronics are cooperating and plan to launch an AR (augmented reality) head display product for Apple’s Vision Pro, which will be priced lower than the Vision Pro. The goal is to launch Meta in 2025 with a price of about US$2,000. (approximately RMB 14,600 Meta). An insider also said: "This will be the most high-end product in the Meta head-mounted display series Quest." Moreover, Samsung has also reported that it will release an XR head-mounted display at the end of 2024. The first batch of production will only be 30,000 units, and it will obviously be together with Vision. Release products with Pro benchmarks or even higher parameters.

If the above disclosure is accurate, it means that Meta is also developing a high-end head display product line, and Samsung will also join the war. By then, the high-end head display market may become a new battlefield for each company to compete.

The high-end head-mounted display market is about to usher in a window of opportunity

The release of Apple Vision Pro is obviously a key node in the development of the XR industry, which means that we are about to enter a new era of spatial computing. At the same time, Apple has also shown us two completely different development paths in the XR hardware market, but we should be clear that the Internet route and the Apple route are not a life and death battle. After all, without the early market education of Internet companies like Meta, it would be difficult for Apple Vision Pro to attract so much attention; the release of Apple Vision Pro proves to us that in the XR hardware market, taking the high-end route is feasible and can be achieved Consumer recognition.

It is true that although taking the high-end route is more difficult to develop and requires greater investment, it can also accumulate a wider moat. Xiaopi, which has been deeply involved in the field of high-definition display for nearly ten years, has established a hard-core brand image among geeks. Its deep technical barriers also allow Xiaopi to reap the dividends of spatial computing first.

We can foresee that it will take at least two years for Apple Vision Pro to enter the consumer market, and these two years are undoubtedly an excellent window for the development of high-end hardware manufacturers like Xiaomi. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the primary school also told us that the primary school will continue to develop and integrate advanced spatial computing interactive technology around traditional high-definition display and large-viewing polishing products to further meet the needs of more users and deeper needs.