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Samsung Falling Behind Apple in AR/VR Space Due to 'Obsession' With Foldable Smartphones
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Me too. I've been waiting for a foldable phone since I got rid of my Motorola Razr for an iPhone.
I'm hoping Apple partners with Oakley and make very lightweight and comfortable sport sunglasses that displays my current speed, heartrate, laptime, map/navigation, etc. It'll be like Apple Watch but components are inside its arms. When connected to iPhone, it could also stream videos using iPhone processing power. Have photochromic lens so I can still wear it indoors.
At this point Apple’s AR/VR glasses are vapourware. The article would have us believe that Apple’s offering is the finished product.
The best place they can start with creating an ecosystem is a tighter link between the TV and the smartphone, but it's probably too late for that.
Samsung's core competency is hardware, not software, so they will need a partner on this.
Samsung's core competency is hardware, not software, so they will need a partner on this.
The sales have in fact been quite good. There have been a few points at which the Quest 2 was out of stock (this past holiday season, last summer, and holiday season 2020). From Qualcomm (who supplies the XR2 chip for the Quest 2), we got estimates that 10 million units had been sold, which is an impressive number given how new the device is and how niche VR has been until now. That estimate was in November of 2021, prior to Christmas. We know that *many* more Quests were sold for Christmas (as evidenced by the fact that on Christmas and for a few days after, the Oculus app was a top downloaded app in both IOS and Google Play stores).
VR is still a relatively small market, yes, but it is growing rapidly. Don‘t be surprised if VR moves from niche to more mainstream in the next few years.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/16/22785469/meta-oculus-quest-2-10-million-units-sold-qualcomm-xr2
Meta’s Oculus was the US’s most-downloaded app on Christmas
The holiday season has been kind to Meta Platforms, the Facebook parent company that recently rebranded to tout its commitment to building the metaverse.
Reminds me of that oft-quoted Henry Ford adage: If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.
The consumer, by and large, is reactionary, not visionary. Most have no idea what they want, or (more specifically) will want (future state) and seem all too content to be told what they do and will want. It's a peculiar human condition that is well understood by many companies and marketers. Apple just happens to have a staggering track record of being reeeeeally good at that part of the game. The secret (if we still want to call it that) for Apple's success, in this regard, can be directly linked to efforts placed on defining, developing and fortifying their ecosystem. It's why they are as vigilant in defending their ecosystem as they are - and, rightly, should be. For without their ecosystem, they would, like many other companies, just be making one-off things. One-off thing making doesn't seem a sustainable path that yields $3T.
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And the extra thickness in your pocket when folded. And unfolding to make photographs.
No thanks.
Yeah, more than likely, they saw usage data and decided there's no market there. I had one and it was a nice novelty but had no staying power.
GearVR was a novelty product for sure. But it was a step toward developing the technology - and it has come quite a long way in the past few years.
Indeed. Samsung already tried VR with the Galaxy Gear headset and ended up giving them all away with new phones because they couldn't sell them.
I'd also love to see how a company can fall behind a non-existent product at this point. I still don't see Apple releasing a VR/AR headset due to the inherent 'dorkiness' factor.
I am sure the experience within is great but I once witnessed one of my neighbours flailing around the living room with his VR headset on and my son and I laughed pretty hard.
Poor article really given this headset is nothing but a prototype as it stands. Samsung could easily say The other way around apple falling behind badly on foldable market which only continues to grow and improve. Hell we will have 2022 iPhones that will still have 60hz displays and still no periscope lens until 2023. Now that’s falling behind the times.
im sure glasses will be the future but in 5-10 years until it could replace a phone and even then i have my doubts.
im sure glasses will be the future but in 5-10 years until it could replace a phone and even then i have my doubts.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Change your lens: how many people with iPads would love to be able to fold them into a size they could put in a pocket? I'll cast my vote for a foldable iPad like that. Anyone else?
I’m interested in both foldables and some form of AR glasses. I will not jump in though until foldable tech matured enough where the device stays ultra thin like a tablet in Westworld and AR glasses are the same size as my eye glasses. What I want is still limited by battery tech and who knows how long that will take, maybe another 5-10 years?
Same here. I think AR/VR has big potential in niche use cases but I'm very skeptical that it will take off with the wider public like cell phones have.
Honestly I hope the metaverse fails miserably like 3D movies and TVs. I can only imagine the damage it would cause to society if it does take off - just look at how much damage misinformation and echo chambers on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. have already caused.
Putting more resources into foldable phone tech seems to be a good idea. Customer base for new phone tech would supersede the AR/VR market. If anything apple is falling behind in new phone tech to put resources into AR/VR.
Samsung had Gear VR before consumer VR technology had matured (though their product was an important step on that path). Consumer VR tech is improving very rapidly (what’s happened in just the past couple of years is incredible), and the market is growing very quickly. There is a reason that Apple, Meta, Sony, Microsoft, etc are all still bullish on the VR/AR industry - its moment is coming.
Geez, foldable devices vs. virtual reality -- which innovation culled from 80s cyberpunk novels will be victorious?!