Not long ago, there was news on the market that OPPO, a major mobile phone manufacturer, had suspended the exploration of XR direction and gradually carried out "internal optimization". You must know that as a major manufacturer in the field of consumer electronics, OPPO's every move has attracted much attention from inside and outside the industry, and this news has also put China's AR industry on the fire to a certain extent.
According to Sina VR's previous report, the scale of OPPO's "optimization" involves hundreds of people. Some claim that relevant personnel are already seeking new job opportunities, but OPPO's adjustment this time will not have large-scale layoffs, but internal transfers, and exploration of AI direction.
In response, OPPO said: "We will continue to carry out pre-research on AR, and at the same time, we believe that AI is a strategic technology that leads the future, and OPPO Research Institute will increase the exploration of various cutting-edge technologies, including AI software and hardware innovation." ”
In fact, in recent years, there have been frequent news of layoffs and optimizations in the AR industry; in addition, there are also some companies that do not release new AR products after they are released, and finally they are not finished; and there are even AR manufacturers who accuse competing companies of "brushing volume" and other phenomena. Based on this, so much so that we have to take a fresh look at this fast-rising industry.
In the past, the frequent financing of the domestic AR industry, the optimistic voices of professionals, and the shouting of corporate executives have concealed the true face of the track?
01. Layoffs and optimization news are frequent
In recent years, the frequent financing of the domestic AR industry, the optimistic voices of professionals, and the shouting of corporate executives have made optimistic remarks that the original true face seems to be concealed. For example, financing, layoffs, optimization, etc.
Taking domestic AR manufacturers as an example, for example, financing still follows the "28 rule", and the financing and frequency of larger amounts are still mainly concentrated in a few leading AR manufacturers.
In this regard, in fact, the sorrow and joy between manufacturers are not the same, and some manufacturers who are short of funds who cannot raise money have to tighten their belts to live, so that their new product release lags behind, or product marketing and promotion are difficult, and over time, it becomes a vicious circle.
Another thing worth paying attention to is that in 2024, there will be frequent news of layoffs and optimizations in the AR industry. A few days ago, there was news that OPPO had suspended the exploration of XR business and carried out "optimization" in the market. The "optimization" involved hundreds of people.
Among its related rumors, some claim that employees in relevant departments are already seeking new employment opportunities, while others say that OPPO's adjustment will not have large-scale layoffs, but internal transfers, and explore the direction of AI.
However, according to a number of media sources, OPPO also retains a small number of personnel to continue the pre-research in the AR direction, and some claim to continue the pre-research in the MR direction.
Image source: OPPO official website
In fact, OPPO is one of the earliest mobile phone manufacturers in China to develop AR technology, and launched its own ARUnit platform as early as 2018. In the past few years, OPPO has unveiled a number of AR glasses, which is definitely one of the mobile phone manufacturers that have released more AR glasses.
Between 2019 and 2024, OPPO released an AR concept glasses almost every year. For example, just two months ago, OPPO unveiled the Air Glass 3 concept machine.
Unlike OPPO's mobile phone manufacturer's identity as XR headsets, some time ago, there was news in the market that an AR company in Beijing was also laying off employees.
In addition, at the beginning of this year, it was also rumored in the market that Thin Red Line, an AR start-up owned by Luo Yonghao, the founder of Hammer, has slowed down its AR business and laid off employees, laying off half of its employees as a whole, and the company will also transform into an AI large model track. In this regard, thin red line insiders said that the report is untrue, and Luo Yonghao is still focusing on AR software and hardware.
02. "Difficult birth", not optimistic, or a false shot?
In addition, in addition to layoffs and downsizing in the AR track, there is also a phenomenon: after the company's ambition to release a new product, there is no follow-up after that, and it should be officially listed and put on sale next, but it has not been done.
Let's take OPPO as an example: at the end of 2019, OPPO released a prototype of AR glasses, in November 2020, OPPO released AR Glass 2021 concept glasses, at the end of 2021, OPPO released Air Glass and pre-sold in February of the following year, in December 2022, OPPO released Air Glass 2, and two months ago, OPPO released Air Glass 3.
In this series of AR products released by OPPO, as of now, except for the OPPO Air Glass, which is on sale, several other AR glasses have hardly been publicly sold.
OPPO Air Glass
According to public information, OPPO Air Glass has officially gone on sale in March 2022 at a price of 4999 yuan. However, this product didn't seem to make much of a splash at the time. Up to now, in the OPPO mall, there is no OPPO AR smart glasses on sale.
The same situation as OPPO on XR is vivo. For example, at the 2019 Shanghai MWC, vivo unveiled its first AR glasses. It is understood that the product is claimed to be a "portable 110-inch 3D large screen". vivo AR glasses use DLP+ waveguide display technology. At the same time, the vivo AR glasses are also equipped with three cameras, which can accurately identify various information.
vivo AR glasses can be used in AR games, AR office, AR cinema, AR facial recognition, AR object recognition, and other scenarios. At that time, the product was unveiled and attracted a lot of attention.
However, it seems that the product has not been followed up, or has not made big waves. In today's public market sale, it was not found to be for public sale.
What is particularly noteworthy is that Xiaomi has also had a similar situation in the AR track. In February last year, Xiaomi officially released the Discovery Edition of wireless AR glasses at Mobile World Congress 2023.
It is reported that the Xiaomi wireless AR glasses exploration version adopts a lightweight design of the whole machine, and the whole machine weighs 126g, including magnesium and lithium alloys, carbon fiber parts, self-developed silicon oxygen anode batteries and a large number of lightweight materials. At the same time, the Xiaomi wireless AR glasses have a PPD of 58, which is very close to retina-level displays, etc.
Now, more than a year later, the glasses are still not available in the open market or are not officially available.
Often, these industry giants will attract a lot of attention when they lay out a certain track. But today, although a new product is being released, it is not officially on sale. This move makes people wonder whether these companies are not optimistic, or the product is "miscarried", or is it a false shot?
03. It is difficult to distinguish between real and false sales
In addition to layoffs and releases but not sales, another point worth paying attention to is that AR companies are difficult to distinguish between real and fake in terms of sales.
For example, near the end of the year last year, the owner of a well-known AR manufacturer in Beijing accused another AR manufacturer of brushing volume on an e-commerce platform.
The boss said that their products had more than 20,000 reviews on an e-commerce platform before, and another competitor had swiped from 5,000 reviews to 20,000 and then to 50,000 within a week. They were also forced to brush the number of reviews to 50,000.
It can be seen that the boss's remarks also seem to confirm the "brushing" and "brushing" from the side, that is to say, there may be a certain amount of moisture in the sales volume, and the real sales volume may only be known by the company itself.
On the other hand, many of the products of AR companies have flowed to the B-end field, and there is a certain way out for the C-end as it claims.
However, institutions are still optimistic about the AR industry. According to IDC data, in 2023, China will ship 262,000 AR headsets, up 154.4% year-on-year, and in 2023, AR headset shipments will account for 36.1% of the overall AR/VR shipments in the Chinese market, a record high.
Among them, in the fourth quarter, AR shipped 118,000 units and VR shipped 110,000 units.
Under the strong market data, institutions also continue to be optimistic about the future of the AR track. IDC predicts that China's AR shipments are expected to continue to grow rapidly in 2024, with a growth rate of more than 100%.
Some time ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that Apple's Vision Pro will be launched in the Chinese market this year. Perhaps, Apple's Vision Pro's domestic listing will drive the domestic XR industry obviously, especially in VR, MR, after all, VR, MR can be used as a substitute to a certain extent, which is difficult to replace AR glasses.
Conversely, excessive hype may make the industry worse. For example, when the goods are not right, not only the company's own reputation is poor, but also may lead to a decline in the reputation of the entire industry. Therefore, it is also quite important for enterprises to build a good market environment for the AR industry.