Apple is being "metaverse"

Although Apple has not yet revealed the relevant plans, Wall Street has arranged it "clearly."

Earlier this month, Apple briefly became the first company ever to be valued at more than $3 trillion in intraday trading. Investors and analysts are betting that Apple will launch VR/AR devices in the next year or so, becoming the driver of a new round of growth in the coming years.

Since Zuckerberg renamed Facebook to Meta, interest in the metaverse has gained new momentum. Since then, Meta's stock price has risen 6.7 percent, while Apple's stock price has surged 18 percent to $175.53 on Wednesday.

Apple has been less vocal about its future plans, but CEO Tim Cook has praised VR/AR technology in recent years, saying it will be an extremely important part of Apple's future.

In the metaverse, people can use avatars to work, shop, and entertain themselves. Analysts believe Apple could expand its ecosystem of hardware, software and services into this new space.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi expects Apple's shipments of augmented reality devices to reach 22 million units by 2030, which could increase revenue by 4 percent, and by 2040, extended reality devices could account for more than 20 percent of Apple's overall revenue.

Morgan Stanley veteran analyst Katy Huberty raised Apple's share target from $164 to $200 last month to account for future values associated with those product lines.

Dan Morgan, a senior portfolio manager focused on technology at trust Synvus Trust, which has Apple as its number one holding, said:

"Many analysts have pointed out that Apple has the potential to diversify its originally iPhone-centric business and introduce other revenue streams such as VR/AR, meta-universes, and self-driving cars, although these divisions are still many years away from making significant contributions to Apple's total revenue."

Although it is unclear how big the metaverse's market size will be, if Apple enters the game, it will face off with other tech giants. Meta (Facebook) has been selling VR headsets for years, Microsoft is also selling AR headsets, and has also been promoting its own meta-universe plan.