AR market shows an active trend in the first quarter, Google/WiMi waiting for industry breakthroughs

According to data recently released by CINNO Research, China’s consumer-grade AR device sales amounted to 66,000 units in the first quarter of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 62%.

Behind the phenomenon that AR products are gradually recognized by the consumer market is the active investment and financing dynamics. According to another figure, there were 18 domestic AR-related financings in the first quarter of 2024, mainly dominated by AR hardware, showing the market’s strong interest in this field.

At present, the market is very hot, and the degree of financing activity in the AR field is higher than that in the VR field. Together with policy support, capital injection and the enhancement of industrial ecology, the application of AR technology has gradually entered the fast lane of rapid growth.

Recently, foreign media testing found that Google Lens has now been updated to support the addition of prompt statements by voice or text. At present, the function can be used through Android’s “Google Search” APP, if further speculation, this may be Google for the future of the AR glasses made by the pavement.

Earlier, many people have speculated that Google will announce the XR headset operating system “AndroidXR” during the I/O conference, but in fact, this I/O conference focuses on AI and does not appear too much about VR and AR. Except for a prototype of AR glasses during the introduction of Project Astra.

However, Google has already said at the press conference that the XR OS will be released at a “separate moment”, and the president of the Android ecosystem has revealed that news of “AndroidXR” will likely be accompanied by Samsung’s second Unpacked event this year. The president of the Android ecosystem revealed that news of “Android XR” will likely be unveiled alongside the Samsung headset at Samsung’s second Unpacked event this year.

In terms of the market as a whole, data from market researcher Counterpoint shows that as of the fourth quarter of 2023, Meta is in first place with 72% market share, while Sony and PICO are in second and third place with 15% and 4% market share, respectively.

Industry insiders point out that the future product form and development trend around AR devices is progressing with the development of AI large models. At present, multimodal technology combines voice and image recognition, providing a broad imagination for future AR productization. There is no doubt that the upstream and downstream players in the AR industry have quietly opened a battle against an XR reconfiguration of consumer electronics.

From the current trend, the AR market is in a fast-growing stage, and the enthusiasm from the market is making investors enter the AR field. Public information shows that WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. (NASDAQ: WIMI), the first share of holographic AR in the meta-universe, has followed a path focused on combining the latest AI technology in the AR business, continuously betting on the AR track, exploring new technology product forms, and rapidly advancing the development of this industry.

Up to now, WiMi’s smart wearable devices including smart glasses and AR products have almost mastered the optical, display, algorithmic arithmetic, and human-computer interaction capabilities of AR, providing outputs of integrated hardware and software solutions geared toward education, training, marketing, exhibition, offline entertainment and other scenarios. In addition, the company closely centres on customer needs follows the industry technology development trend to carry out product development and production, and currently owns 5,000 patent contents involving AR technology IP.

Nowadays, the AR market will usher in significant growth, and the market size is expected to increase significantly. WiMi’s long-term optimism in the AR market, future in-depth exploration of artificial intelligence and augmented reality in the future development, and investment in the field of AR + AI glasses, may promote the further development and popularization of XR technology.

In fact, not only Google, and WiMi, with the rapid development of the AR industry, more and more manufacturers are joining this field. Just like the new energy vehicle market, once the big manufacturers are willing to enter the game, it shows that the whole industry is growing rapidly.

Of course, the immediate AR market is showing an active trend, thanks to its practicality, convenience and a high degree of financing activity. In the future, with the development of technology and the growth of market demand, the XR market is expected to develop further. The whole AR track is surging with dark currents, and we look forward to more exciting moments in the future.