The launch of Apple's Vision Pro this year is a major event in the consumer electronics industry, which is expected to start a new cycle. The industry also hopes that Vision Pro can promote the development of the MR (mixed reality) industry.
At 5:00 am local time on January 19th, Apple's first MR headset Vision Pro was opened for pre-sale on the US official website. After 18 minutes of ordering, the inventory was sold out. Two hours after ordering, the delivery date was already scheduled for March or even April. Vision Pro will be officially released on February 2nd.
Vision Pro is considered a mobile terminal that pioneered the era of spatial computing, with significantly improved experience in optical components, display devices, chips, and interactive innovation compared to previous VR/AR terminals. In addition, Vision Pro's innovation in interaction is expected to open up commercial space for immersive MR content such as games, film and animation, live streaming, and entertainment.
TrendForce, a third-party consulting firm, stated that Vision Pro is an important layout for Apple to expand the market size of virtual headsets, and can also enter the VR/AR market as a pioneer in technological innovation through this product. If the first purchase is enthusiastic, it is estimated that the shipment volume of Vision Pro will reach 500000 to 600000 units in 2024.
The latest report released by another consulting firm, IDC, estimates that the global shipment of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets in 2023 will be 8.1 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%. The report points out that Sony's PS VR and Meta's Quest3 headsets are relatively popular, but due to multiple factors such as macroeconomic pressure and slower spending in the business sector, the growth of global AR/VR headsets has been suppressed. IDC believes that driven by Meta's Quest 3 and Apple's Vision Pro headsets, the shipment volume of AR/VR headsets will see a significant increase in 2024, with an estimated year-on-year growth of 46.4%. In terms of manufacturers, Meta Company accounted for 55.2% of the market share in the third quarter of 2023 and is expected to continue achieving year-on-year growth in 2024.
Vision Pro hardware industry chain
The Vision Pro body includes 12 cameras, 5 sensors, 6 microphones, two 4K Micro OLED displays, two M2 chips and a new R1, and a digital crown. In addition, Vision Pro is equipped with the first spatial operating system VisionOS and a dedicated app store.
In terms of chips, the Apple Vision Pro adopts an M2+R1 dual chip design. Among them, the task of the M2 chip is to execute tasks, interact instantaneously, and run calculations, allowing users to access applications through the head display device; The R1 processor belongs to low-power chips, responsible for functions such as positioning, collaboration, visual image processing or transmission.
The chip has always been the highest barrier to Vision Pro, mainly developed by Apple and manufactured by TSMC. The WiFi chip adopts Broadcom.
In terms of display, the interior screen of Vision Pro adopts Micro OLED technology, with a single eye resolution of up to 4K; The external screen adopts flexible OLED with a resolution of 1080P. Among them, the external screen is supplied by LG, and the internal screen is supplied by Sony.
In terms of optical solutions, Vision Pro adopts a three piece Pancake scheme with a folded optical path design to achieve the goal of expanding the field of view angle, compressing the distance between the screen and the lens, and reducing the thickness of the module.
In terms of Vision Pro hardware, Chinese companies are also relatively involved. There are reports that the assembly of Apple Vision Pro and multiple components have also been handed over to Chinese companies, and the proportion of China's supply chain may increase to over 60%.
The Vision Pro related targets listed by Guosheng Securities include: complete machine: Lixun Precision (002475), GoerTech (002241), Huaqin Technology (603296), Yidao Information, etc. (001314); Components: Shunyu Optics (02382. HK), Crystal Optoelectronics (002273), Zhaowei Electromechanical (003021), Gaowei Electronics (01415. HK), Changying Precision (300115), Dongshan Precision (002384), Pengding Holdings (002938), BOE (000725), Desai Battery (000049), Xinwangda (300207), Lingyi Zhizao (002600), Sanlipu (002876), and Guoguang Electric (002045); Equipment: Jiepute (688025), Shenkeda (688328), Huaxingyuanchuang (688001), Zhicubic (301312), Boshuo Technology (300951), etc.
New Opportunities in MR Content Ecology
In addition to hardware opportunities, investment institutions are also very concerned about the opportunities that Vision Pro brings to the content industry this time.
Unlike the current mainstream head display that focuses on physical controllers and tactile feedback for interactive innovation, Vision Pro's interaction mode is more natural, such as gestures and eye tracking. The eye tracking effect of Vision Pro is excellent, and users only need to focus on menu items or buttons, and the system will immediately highlight them.
On January 16th, Apple officially launched the Vision Pro App Store. The VisionOS App Store not only offers applications designed for Vision Pro, but also offers IOS applications that can run in 2D mode on Vision Pro. Currently, the software planned to be launched in the VisionOS app store includes Microsoft's OfficeZoom, streaming app Disney+, and more.
Minsheng Securities believes that the deduction of the Vision Pro platform's content ecosystem can be divided into three parts: the translation of the Apple ecosystem, and Vision Pro serving more as a display screen, as an extension of the mobile phone and computer content ecosystem. The transplantation of the Unity ecosystem, where existing VR content is mostly developed from Unity, focuses on content transplantation. The development of native content, combining Apple gestures and eye interaction with native content. The core focus is on eye and gesture interaction content, and adapting to Apple's native mild interaction content is expected to be the first to gain popularity.
Minsheng Securities suggests following the following directions for layout: valuing content/IP parties, focusing on companies with layout in film and television, gaming, education, social networking, and exhibition display directions; In addition, the current content production is still mainly focused on PGC, with a focus on "selling shovels" for creating new forms of content, as well as XR virtual shooting companies, 3D content engines, modeling and rendering companies. Suggest following Jiachuang Video (300264), Hengxin Oriental (300081), Baotong Technology (300031), Silk Road Vision (300556), Fantuo Shuchuang (301313), Tomcat (300459), Kaiying Network (002517), Zhongwen Online (300364), Lisheng Sports (002858), Roman Group (605289), Fengyuzhu (603466), Fengshang Culture (300860), etc.