Virtual reality crosses the inflection point to usher in a market explosion

Consumer electronics products seem to be in a state of inexorability in recent years. Many analysts worry that product innovation is hovering at a "plateau": it's no surprise that smartphones are part of everyday life, used to control cars, appliances, light switches, and room air conditioners. Even remotely controlling drones, watching virtual movies, playing virtual games, etc., all revolve around smartphones giving orders.

Smartphones can indeed carry more applications and various games, and these functions can be improved and perfected, but the leap from ordinary mobile phones to smart phones has been completed. Where is the next revolutionary product? Robots, drones, virtual reality, which one will change human life like a smartphone?

Virtual reality detonates excitement

Europe's largest consumer electronics show in Berlin in early September, with 10% more exhibitors than last year, open to the public, tickets 17 euros, crowded, The atmosphere is lively, in contrast to the above-mentioned helpless attitude towards the near-term outlook. Nothing is more exciting than the future of virtual reality (Virtual Reality, or "virtual reality") and augmented reality (Augmented Reality, or "augmented reality"). Such products have emerged in the past few years, but most of them remain in the conceptual stage, with poor experience, lack of content, lack of unified specifications, and technical bottlenecks that prevent them from entering the consumer market on a large scale. However, this year's processor and graphics chip maker AMD (Supermicro) Chief Technology Officer (CTO) delivered a keynote speech at the show, pointing out that the new generation of processors, displays, and motion-sensing software have greatly improved performance and reduced performance. Price, virtual reality is poised to hit the consumer market in a big way.

The well-known Qualcomm (Qualcomm) is a leader in 3G and 4G wireless technology, combining digital communication and entertainment, it has made every effort to enter virtual reality, and launched a series of "reference designs" at the exhibition. . A few years ago, the company provided reference designs for smartphones, prompting more than fifty manufacturers to design their own products on this basis and bring them to market. Competition democratized prices, and smartphones quickly fell from a few hundred dollars to dozens. US dollar one.

In April this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "White Paper on the Development of Virtual Reality Industry 5.0", which identified that virtual reality is on the eve of the industrial outbreak, and the technical system and industrial pattern are initially formed, and it is about to enter a window period of sustained and rapid development. This judgment is clearly correct.

At present, most of the companies entering the virtual reality industry are venture capital and Internet companies. Taiwan's HTC is optimistic about the business prospects, and has switched from mobile phones to virtual reality content production. Recently, it invested in Steel Wool Studio in San Francisco for animation of virtual games. Production, layout for the future.

Best Buy, the US consumer electronics retail giant, has provided customer experience areas with super-large TV screens from Samsung, Sony and LG in 500 large-scale retail showrooms.

Virtual reality and augmented reality are not only used in film and television, game entertainment, but also in education and medical care. AMD predicts that the market will grow from $5.2 billion this year to $162 billion in 2020.

Smart watch phones are doing well

Wearable electronic devices have been growing rapidly for several years and have entered a mature product cycle. At the Berlin Consumer Electronics Show, after improving the appearance, The expansion of functionality, coupled with a powerful battery, continues to unleash the potential. For example, Samsung and Asus smartwatches using Android system, round surface, high definition, and loaded with fitness application software, high waterproof performance, long battery life, fast charging, may once again become the best-selling products in the holiday season at the end of this year. However, no matter how the appearance is improved, the size of the smartwatch is still bulky. Many consumers think that many functions are performed by the smartphone in the pocket, and the superiority of the smartwatch is not significant.

The smart watch combines the functions of a sports bracelet to easily enter the field of health care. In April, Apple CEO Tim Cook positioned a new generation of smartwatches to improve health and quality of life, monitoring heart rate, reminding to take deep breaths regularly every day, when to exercise and when to rest. Samsung and Apple also launched the use of smart watches to make small daily payments such as taxis, bringing more convenience to life.

Samsung and some smart belts developed by former Samsung technical engineers are also playing health cards. Users can display their weight and waist fat on their mobile phones, which is a wearable item, but the response of consumers does not seem to be enthusiastic.

The Consumer Electronics Association, the organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin, predicts that global sales of wearables will rise 58% this year to 122 million units.

In the smartphone space, Apple's shipments fell sharply by 15% in July, when IDC reported second-quarter global smartphone shipments. Mainly because consumers are waiting for a new generation of products to appear and are on the sidelines. Apple has tapped potentials in existing products, improved battery power, lenses that can capture high-definition photos, fingerprint recognition, etc., hoping to win the favor of high-end consumers, and bring huge profits at high prices to make up for the decline in shipments and sales. . Apple's iPhone 7 was unveiled on September 7, and it's not surprising that there are many new highlights. Market watchers think Apple may save the surprise improvements for next year's 10th anniversary of the iPhone's grand launch.

The wait-and-see attitude of smartphone customers has actually brought opportunities for manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE, and the sales momentum is quite good. Mass consumers find that they can buy Chinese products with complete functions and good quality without spending a lot of money. Only when smart phones enter thousands of households can the ecological construction of electronic appliances be completed, thereby promoting the popularization and progress of smart furniture.

After Samsung's Tizen smart refrigerator, LG launched a 27-inch tablet with a large refrigerator door, Microsoft window 10 software, touch screen to see the food stored in the refrigerator, as well as view recipes, watch videos and For functions such as news, although there is no forecast for the time of listing, advertisements are first, which has achieved the purpose of adjusting people's appetite.

In general, although there is no new product to drive the boom in consumer electronics, there is no sign of stagnation in sales; on the contrary, smart phones and smart watches have performed well, and the development prospects of virtual reality Even more eagerly awaited. Best Buy is the number one consumer electronics retailer in the US and Canada and can be considered a barometer of the consumer electronics market. In the past two years, thanks to the warmer US economy, the company's performance has been stronger than expected, and the stock has risen by nearly 30% this year. Although securities analysts are worried that due to the impact of the product cycle, the performance will be unstable, especially the fierce competition of traditional consumer electronics products, resulting in a thin profit margin in the near future, but the layout of the future virtual reality market will lay the foundation for next year's sales.