Hong Kong – Tailor Insight, the fintech market research organization, recently released a research report "The VR/AR was applied to the Apple conference, and WIMI Hologram Cloud builds a 5G remote communication holographic cloud ecosystem". On April 21, Beijing time, the US technology giant Apple held a spring conference and released anti-lost tags AirTag, new iMac, new iPad, and other products. In addition, Apple also announced that it will implement a paid subscription model for Podcasts in its App Store. At the same time, users can also get an ad-free listening experience by paying creators.
It is worth noting that an AR Easter egg was attached to the website page of the conference. When you visit the event website with your iPhone or iPad, you can see an AR version of the color logo. If you turn on the camera and move your phone, you will see a virtual moving screen of the logo. Besides, there are media reports that Apple may release an AR headset at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2021) held on June 8, Beijing time.
AR can be expected in the future
XR products have opened the next imagination of consumer electronics. According to the forecast of IDC, global VR products will grow by about 46.2% year-on-year in 2021, and the compound growth rate from 2020 to 2024 will be about 48%. In 2025, global AR equipment shipments will reach 24.4 million units (the total shipment of global VR/AR in 2020 was only 5.84 million units). Strategy Analytics predicts that the total shipment of XR will increase 6 times by 2025, and the revenue of XR hardware will exceed $28 billion in 2025.
On the evening of April 5th, Beijing time, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with the media that AR is "critical" to Apple's future. He took interview conversations as an example, thinking that AR can provide graphs to help explain and effectively improve conversation efficiency. In addition, he mentioned that AR has mobile-related applications in health care, education, gaming, and retail, and the prospect is bright. Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Guo said in a research report released on March 8 that Apple's history of success is essentially the history of the development of innovative human-machine interfaces for consumer electronic products. It is predicted that MR/AR is the next key technology of innovative human-machine interface to define the electronic product. This is also the reason why Apple has invested heavily in MR/AR. However, instead of being exposed to the vision of the mass, Apple's AR device only can be heard of its information. In the latest interview, Cook did not give much explanation for the term "Glow and Behold" in the WWDC 2021 invitation letter.
At present, mainstream VR head-mounted display equipment providers include Facebook's Oculus, Sony, HTC International, and Microsoft. At the end of March, the US Army announced that it had awarded Microsoft a $21.9 billion contract to provide the military with at least 120,000 AR equipment. The Xinhua News Agency said that after receiving the contract, Microsoft will produce holographic glasses based on HoloLens for soldiers to fight and exercise in a unified system. Prior to this, Microsoft supplied the US military with integrated visual augmentation system (IVAS) model products which $418 million in 2018.
AR image augmented reality (Augment Reality) is the intersection of artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. It is a technology that calculates the position and angle affected by the camera in real-time and adds corresponding images, videos, and 3D models. It is the technology that organically integrates the real world and the virtual world information. AR superimposes physical information (mainly including visual and auditory information) that is difficult to experience in a certain time and space in the real world through computer simulation and then superimposes, applying virtual information to the real world. After that, these can be perceived by the human senses to achieve a sensory experience that transcends reality.
Compared with VR, AR emphasizes more on the information added in real scenes. The viewing screen is different from VR's fully enclosed helmet devices, mainly including transparent reality headsets, mobile phones, and handheld projections. At present, the main application areas are industry, commerce, and games, such as AR navigation.
AR/VR applications are the core applications of vertical industries. The immersive experience and interactive experience have enabled AR/VR applications to be widely promoted in the early stage of 5G network construction.
AR/VR is a product of the integration of next-generation information technologies such as near-eye reality, perception interaction, rendering processing, network transmission, and content production. Under the new situation, high-quality AR/VR services have gradually increased requirements for bandwidth and delay. Meanwhile, the rate has gradually increased from 25Mbps to 3.5Gbps, and the delay is reduced from 30ms to less than 5ms.
In this context, continuous innovation in the AR field has triggered the adoption of this technology in several industries and industry verticals and is driving the market growth. For example, the AR smart glasses market is accelerating, from a niche product to a solver of industrial and corporate problems, and rapidly expanding to the consumer market. The main participants in this industry include Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Magic Leap, and WIMI Hologram Cloud.
As a holographic AR company listed on NASDAQ, WIMI Hologram Cloud has once again attracted the attention of the public. WIMI utilizes its strong technical capabilities and infrastructure to provide excellent products and services. WIMI has won the bid for China Mobile and the second phase of the holographic remote interaction of the media cloud platform, and it is redefining China Mobile's communication method through "5G + holographic remote". Its core business is holographic AR technology for software engineering, media manufacturing services, cloud, and big data.
WIMI was founded in 2015, and it focuses on holographic cloud services, mainly in vehicle-mounted AR holographic HUD, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR, head-mounted light field holographic equipment, holographic semiconductor, holographic cloud software, holographic car navigation, and other professional fields, covering multiple links of AR technology, including holographic vehicle-mounted AR technology, 3D holographic pulse LiDAR technology, holographic vision semiconductor technology, holographic software development, holographic AR advertising technology, holographic AR entertainment technology, holographic ARSDK payment, interactive holographic communication, and so on. It is a holographic cloud comprehensive technical solution provider. In terms of smart technology, LiDAR is the technological equivalent of a set of eyes. With the rapid development of intelligent robots, autonomous vehicles, autonomous drones, medical imaging, Internet of Things, and other industries, LiDAR's market scale should grow exponentially in the future. To better meet its customers' needs, WIMI plans to launch its WiMiHoloPulse LiDAR products in three phases. WIMI plans for WiMiHoloPulse LiDAR to be a small-sized, light weight, and multi-functional holographic pulse LiDAR sensor with a long detection range, wide field of view, and unique scanning pattern. WIMI also plans for WiMiHoloPulse LiDAR to come with its own point cloud interface and to not require an additional adapter for connection when under operation. The WiMiHoloPulse LiDAR solution will offer a software development kit along with its hardware product. This kit will feature such functionalities as, target detection, categorization, and measurement. WIMI will integrate software recognition algorithms into WiMiHoloPulse LiDAR to provide solutions across various industries, including autonomous driving, environmental perception, 3D holographic imaging, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), traffic management, and 3D printing, which will help to rapidly expand the market for holographic technology applications.
As the 5G holographic communication network bandwidth conditions change, the 5G holographic application market will usher in an explosion. High-end applications such as holographic interactive entertainment and holographic conferences will gradually become popular in holographic social, holographic communication, holographic navigation, and holographic home applications. WIMI Hologram Cloud plans to use holographic AI face recognition technology and holographic AI face-changing technology as its core technologies. Moreover, it will use multiple technologically innovative systems to support holographic cloud platform services and 5G communication holographic applications.
5G's unique MEC edge-to-computing technology is the key to ensuring low latency. It can fundamentally break through the VR/AR localization and realize VR/AR cloud services. Meanwhile, it can provide users with the real-time interactive experience in large-scale variety shows, sports events, and other programs experience and enhance the real immersion of VR.
With the development of cloud VR technology, lightweight head-mounted display devices are expected to be rapidly developed and popularized. The mobility demand for VR technology will increase immediately, and the demand for 5G technology will continue to increase.
At present, VR has been widely used in industries such as real estate, exhibitions, games, and entertainment. With the arrival of 5G, VR is expected to be applied to more business scenarios. The application of VR in the media field will also be further explored. The main business scenarios include live broadcast, news, film and television, marketing, social networking, etc. With the advent of 5G commercial use, the VR industry is entering a stage of rapid development and is expected to become an important force to lead a new round of global industrial revolution.
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Media contact
Alex Xie, Senior Analyst
Fintech Research Team, Tailor Insight Research