(Economic Observation) Metaverse Catalyzes, VR/AR Ushers in a New Round of Upsurge

　　China News Service, Beijing, August 28 (Reporter Liu Yuying) With the intensive release of a variety of new products, VR/AR (virtual reality/augmented reality) is ushering in a new round of development boom, and China's local VR/AR industry chain is accelerating. Mature.

　　This summer, a number of VR/AR products have been released in the Chinese market.

On July 25th, Skyworth released the Pancake VR all-in-one machine; on August 18th, the Lenovo Savior VR all-in-one VR700 opened for pre-sale; this week, the Chinese consumer-grade AR glasses brand Nreal released two AR glasses. The shape is close to sunglasses, and the Nreal Air weighs only 79 grams; Pico, a subsidiary of ByteDance, will release new Pico4/Pico4Pro products globally in September.

　　VR/AR is ushering in a new wave of boom.

According to IDC data, the global shipment of VR head-mounted displays in 2021 will reach 10.95 million units, breaking the industry inflection point of annual shipments of 10 million units. The global shipment of VR head-mounted displays in the first quarter of this year increased by 241.6% year-on-year.

　　The Chinese VR/AR market is also heating up.

The latest statistics from the market research and consulting company Gfk show that in the first half of 2022, the retail sales of China's VR market exceeded 800 million yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 81% year-on-year, and the average sales price of head-mounted displays increased from the early thousand yuan. The following pulled up to about 1740 yuan.

　　Xu Wenli, deputy director of the Electronic Information Department of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said this month that China's VR industry is developing rapidly, with continuous breakthroughs in core technologies, increasingly rich product supply, and continued growth in the application innovation ecosystem.

For example, in the terminal hardware segment, the innovation capability of domestic manufacturers has been significantly improved, various VR and AR terminal products have been launched continuously, and indicators such as volume, weight, battery life, and heat dissipation have been continuously optimized.

　　The shortcomings in content are also breaking through.

For example, video site iQIYI not only launched VR headsets, but also collaborated with Nreal to release the first customized AR application, which can bring users an immersive viewing experience.

ByteDance acquired Pico, a VR equipment maker, and deployed VR around games, fitness and other fields.

　　VR/AR is an important port to enter the metaverse, and it is also the specific form of XR.

The so-called XR (Extended Reality) refers to extended reality technology, including VR, AR and MR and other forms.

　　Chen Ying, vice chairman and secretary general of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, told a reporter from China News Agency that Metaverse emphasizes the connection and interaction between the virtual world and the real world.

Immersive experience is one of the basic features of the metaverse, and the realization of the metaverse must rely on VR/AR technology.

　　Chen Ying introduced that VR/AR is currently mainly used in industrial manufacturing, medical and health care, culture and entertainment, education and training, business creativity and other fields, and has continuously spawned new formats and models of the digital economy.

　　However, it is still in the early days of VR/AR development.

Xu Chi, founder and CEO of Nreal, said in an interview with the media that the core VR technology is relatively mature, while AR has not fully formed the modular supply of the supply chain in several core modules.

From the perspective of the entire industry chain, VR has passed the stage of relatively difficult technology, and there will be continuous computing iterations in the future, and more are currently stuck on the content side.

　　As a new generation of consumer terminal products, VR/AR is exactly the entrepreneurial opportunity for Chinese enterprises.

Xu Chi said that compared with smartphones 15 years ago, the popularity of VR/AR means the change of platforms, and China has a better opportunity to participate in leading.

　　On the one hand, the development of the VR/AR industry is supported by policies.

In China's "14th Five-Year Plan", virtual reality and augmented reality have been listed as one of the key development directions of the digital economy, which is giving birth to a broad market space.

Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hainan and other places have introduced policies to build Metaverse industrial parks, set up parent funds, introduce talents and related enterprises, and support the sustainable development of the Metaverse industry ecology, and VR/AR is the focus of the Metaverse industry. one.

　　On the other hand, Xu Chi believes that Chinese companies have four advantages.

One is the supply chain advantage, whether automobiles, mobile phones, and other smart hardware are basically manufactured in China; second, with the development of Internet technology companies in the past ten years, China's talents have made a leap in quality and quantity; third, the market size Advantages; Fourth, China's policies and support for innovative companies can enable companies to implement some ideas more quickly.

　　Chen Ying said that in general, VR/AR technology and cost have been able to support large-scale commercial use.

In the future, China can strengthen its layout in terms of technology research and development, industrial chain coordination, and promotion and application.

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