2022 was a tricky 12 months for the AR/VR market as international shipments dropped sharply to eight.8 million models for the total 12 months – down 20.9% in comparison with 2021, in accordance with knowledge by IDC. The analysts say that the drop was anticipated as it is a fledgling market and sure international occasions have large results on it (each optimistic and unfavourable).
In 2021 the pandemic had lots of people caught at house with disposable money, which was a possibility for VR and AR headset makers. It additionally helped that growing costs of electronics parts and logistics hadn’t hit with full pressure but, so the likes of the Meta Quest 2 was nonetheless $300 – that worth rose to $400 final 12 months (observe: that is for the 128GB mannequin, the 256GB one was $500 however its worth was decreased to $430 a couple of days in the past).
The Meta Quest 2
For now there’s a fairly sturdy division between headsets that may do VR and headsets that may do AR. There are some “Blended Actuality” headsets too, that are in a position to mix AR and VR. These so-called “XR” headsets embrace the Meta Quest Professional and the HTC Vive XR Elite, which price $1,000 and $1,100, respectively, fairly a bit greater than headsets that concentrate on one or the opposite.
Meta holds round 80% of the general VR/AR market, ByteDance (sure, the corporate behind TikTok) is a distant second with 10% after it acquired Pico. The opposite firms within the High 5 are DPVR, HTC and iQIYI. Sony launched its new PSVR 2 headset final month and the corporate claims that there will likely be no provide points, so we’ll see how a lot of the VR market it may seize.
The market of pure AR glasses is sort of completely different – there Nreal dominates with almost 100K shipments final 12 months. Right here is the High 5 of AR glasses:
- 1. Nreal – 98,000
- 2. Microsoft – 35,000
- 3. Rokid – 30,000
- 4. TCL – near 30,000
- 5. Epson – 13,000
Observe that Nreal was sixth within the general VR/AR market, which is usually centered on VR in the meanwhile.
“Whereas Meta and ByteDance duke it out within the VR section, Nreal has been in a position to slowly develop its presence by interesting to cellular players,” mentioned Jitesh Ubrani, analysis supervisor, Mobility and Client Gadget Trackers at IDC. “Although it is nonetheless early days for AR and VR, Meta has been in a position to construct a moat for itself by way of its numerous first- and third-party content material. That is the place different gamers equivalent to Sony and doubtlessly Apple can present significant competitors although in the long term it’s going to put strain on others together with ByteDance and Nreal.”
Nreal’s choices embrace the Air AR glasses, which at the moment go for $380 on Amazon. These are pretty light-weight and look rather a lot like common sun shades. The Air has a 3,840 x 1,080px OLED show and creates a picture equal to a 130” show at 4m/13ft (46° FOV with 49 pixels per diploma).
Nreal Air AR glasses
The Nreal Air are offload the processing to an exterior machine – you should use them for gaming on the go along with a Nintendo Change or a Valve Steam Deck. Alternatively, they are often an extra show for a PS5 or Xbox Sequence X at house.
They work with Android telephones too by way of the Nebula app and there’s a beta model for Macs that makes use of the glasses’ 6DoF monitoring to create a number of digital shows across the wearer.
The Nreal Air AR glasses can be utilized for gaming, video streaming and as a number of digital displays
“At Nreal, we’re proud to have led the best way in driving innovation and development within the AR business by creating AR glasses that symbolize the subsequent technology of computing interfaces,” mentioned Chi Xu, Founder, and CEO of Nreal. “Our mission has at all times been to create AR know-how that is user-friendly and intuitive, and we’re excited to proceed advancing innovation within the AR business as we redefine how folks dwell, work, and play.”
