The metaverse may be the next generation of the Internet, analogous to the upgrade of the mobile Internet to the PC Internet, which not only satisfies people’s spiritual needs, but also can significantly increase labor productivity. With the concept of metaverse exploding around the world, the XR (Extended Reality) industry, which is an important “entrance” to the metaverse, has a development opportunity.
The Potential and Advantages of XR
According to the latest data from Wellsenn XR, global VR shipments in 2022 Q2 were 2.33 million units, up 31% year-over-year. Third-party agency research reports also show that XR headset shipments are expected to exceed 100 million units by 2025, a nearly 10-fold increase over 2021. It should be noted that the current mainstream XR includes VR, AR, MR, etc. XR relies on wearable devices or special environments with positioning devices (naked eye XR) to achieve, and the current market is dominated by wearable devices.
A number of XR practitioners believe that XR industry is one of the infrastructure and important entrances to the metaverse. In addition to the game field, XR devices are increasingly penetrating into industry fields such as e-commerce, cultural tourism, industrial manufacturing, advertising and marketing, telecommuting, education and training, and medical health. While achieving commercial application and market demand growth, the scenarios and depth and breadth of applications are further enriched and expanded.
From the perspective of financing, the global XR industry is highly active in investment and financing, and the development of XR industry is promising. It is understood that the overall investment and financing of the global XR industry in 2022 H1 totaled $31.26 billion, compared with $22.83 billion in the same period last year, up 37% year-on-year. In terms of the number of financing and M&A events, 172 financing and M&A cases occurred in 2022 H1 global XR, up 17% year-over-year from 2021, and the overall XR industry is developing well. Overall, XR investment and financing was not affected by the epidemic in the first half of 2022, with a high level of investment and financing activity and promising development of the XR industry.
XR windfall is gradually taking shape, and there are more and more market players. Google launched Google Glass AR glasses, Meta acquired Oculus with $2 billion and released Oculus series consecutively. Then Sony, Samsung and other major manufacturers also launched related products one after another. Along with the global layout of 5G, XR industry ushered in technology iteration update. Xiaomi released single-eye wave-guide AR smart glasses, Apple’s first AR/VR device is also expected to come online in 2023, and Sony recently announced that it will soon release new VR/AR products.
Expanding the boundaries of business development, WiMi builds a multi-win ecosystem for XR industry chain
In addition, continuing to benefit from the high boom of the global industry, the industry believes that with differentiated entrants bringing abundant resources, the ecological platform and content aspects of XR hardware are expected to be further improved. The entry of WiMi Hologram Cloud (NASDAQ:WIMI) into the XR market may trigger a “catfish effect” in the business market, enriching the industry resources in the XR hardware market and actively trying to create industry benchmark XR products and experiences in software, content, system, tool SDK, hardware and other aspects.
It is understood that the core strategy of WiMi is a complete technical solution for the next generation XR user experience and metaverse interface. Since the investment layout of XR field, it always focuses on the core components of XR field for investment layout. Earlier, WiMi established a huge technology R&D ecosystem, with 195 patents of related technologies in 3D modeling, 325 software copyrights, and 5,000 XR contents produced. Combining the attention to cutting-edge technology and the sensitivity of XR industry chain, WiMi firmly chose XR track, from technology research and development, talent absorption and market expansion investment layout, and increased the layout of XR industry chain to help the strongest wind growth in the next decade.
In many segments of the XR track, hardware development is the foundation of the industry development. Nowadays, in the XR hardware field, WiMi R&D team has launched a number of AR/VR hardware products with the ability of independent research and development. The terminal hardware device is an important part of the metaverse experience and determines the final user experience. With global leading market insight as well as R&D strength, WiMi has made good progress in its product development work.
To be plain, in the overall development process of XR field, in terms of investment layout, doing upstream and downstream combing of the industry chain from the hardware entrance link can better maintain the sensitivity to the industry chain development trend, find better quality targets in the segment and improve the investment efficiency. Looking ahead, WiMi will continue to focus on the XR industry chain and make investment layout, look for future high-growth and high-potential industrial opportunities, support the growth of outstanding entrepreneurial and innovative talents, expand the boundaries of enterprise development, and build a multi-win ecology through the multi-point linkage of the investment industry chain.
Conclusion
For the development of XR industry in 2022 or even in the next few years, many industry insiders hold an optimistic view that although still facing technical and market challenges, XR industry will usher in new development opportunities. In addition, I note that the first “climax” of XR industry development originated in 2014, followed by 2015-2016, the domestic and international markets set off a VR/AR start-up boom, a variety of headset devices flooded the market, but did not sustain for a long time to break, a large number of “players But it didn’t last long before it broke down, and a large number of “players” were defeated.
Until 2021, the concept of metaverse exploded globally, injecting new momentum and providing a clearer “grip” for XR industry development. Compared to five or six years ago, XR has begun to penetrate into all walks of life. And both giants and entrepreneurs are waging a card war, hoping for a real explosion of the XR industry.
