The XR Week Peek (2023.07.11): Samsung headset delayed, Apple cheaper Vision delayed, and more!
It’s been another interesting week in immersive realities, so let’s see what happened in our field in the past few days!
Top news of the week
Samsung XR headset may have been delayed
The new rumor in town is that Samsung has delayed its upcoming headset that it is building in partnership with Google and Qualcomm. The release date should have been early 2024, but it seems that the Korean company has informed its suppliers that this date may have been moved forward of “one to two quarters”.
The reason is the one I’ve already reported in this newsletter a few weeks ago: after the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro, Samsung has been caught a bit off guard by the announced features and it is now trying to power up its headset so that it will be able to properly compete with Apple’s device. The report in particular talks about “design and displays” as areas where the review process will take place.
Long story short… Samsung is copying from Apple, again 😛
Other relevant news
Apple Vision headset delayed to 2026
Apple is having its share of problems with the XR headset it is building, which is its most complicated product ever to assemble.
Apart from assembling issues, the company in Cupertino is having difficulties in getting components for its device, like defect-free OLED microdisplays. It is reportedly “unhappy with suppliers’ productivity” and for this reason, it had to cut out the expected production. It seems that the new estimate is around 150K units to be manufactured in the first year. These units will be sold just via Apple channels, with Apple requiring an appointment to an Apple Store close to you so that the employees can scan your face and provide you with a better facemask.
Talking about the cheaper version of the Vision Pro, which will probably be called “Apple Vision”, Apple seems to be working on a device that may have a cost similar to a high-end iPhone. It is working with Samsung and LG for the displays of this more affordable headset, but these are the same companies that Meta is rumored to work with, so there may be a challenge between the two companies for the supply of displays for their XR devices.
But the bad news is another one: it seems that the release schedule of the Apple Vision “had to be pushed back”, probably into 2026. This doesn’t surprise me much, considering that in 2024 Apple will just start to distribute the Vision Pro only in the US, and the cheaper device should be sold after the Pro device has been sold worldwide for a while.
As a software developer, this makes me wonder what is the real business value of releasing an XR app on the Vision Pro: a market of 150K units is breadcrumbs, is more than 10 times smaller than the one of PCVR, so it is almost impossible for a studio that develops an XR experience for the Vision Pro to be profitable. And the version that should increase the sales number is coming only in 3 years from now, which is a lot of time. I see the value for cross-platform apps to have also a version for the Vision Pro, which helps with brand value, too, but I don’t see how a Vision Pro exclusive content can survive, unless it is funded by Apple, of course.
More info (Apple has production issues)
More info (Apple Vision delayed to 2026)
More info (Apple to require an appointment to sell Vision Pro)
Meta is still in talks with Tencent to distribute Quest in China
We all know that Meta’s services are blocked in China and for this reason, the Quest can’t be sold in that country (I mean… at least through official channels :P). For this reason, it is rumored that Meta is in talks with Chinese companies to bring the device to the country, and the company with which the conversations are more advanced is Tencent.
The idea is to replicate with the Quest the same thing that happened with the Oculus Go, which was launched in China with the Xiaomi brand and featured the Xiaomi store instead of the Oculus Store. Tencent may curate a store that follows all the guidelines of the Chinese government, making sure that the device can be sold there and people can enjoy its content.
There are a few hurdles for this collaboration to happen and one of them is that Chinese companies are not happy that Zuckerberg in the past has heavily criticized China a few times.
More info (Meta is in talks with Tencent)
More info (Zuckerberg’s opinions on China may hurt this collaboration)
News worth a mention
XREAL is close to selling 200,000 devices
Chinese AR manufacturer XREAL (formerly known as Nreal) has just revealed in an interview with CNBC that it sold 150,000 units of XR glasses in May, and that soon it will reach the threshold of 200,000 units. The device that is driving such a big success is the Nreal Air, the 3DOF viewer that many people are finding great for media consumption.
Palmer Luckey has expressed his opinion on Quest Pro and Vision Pro
In an interview with Peter Diamandis, the father of modern VR Palmer Luckey has expressed his opinions on the Apple Vision Pro and the Quest Pro. Regarding Vision Pro, he just said positive things, like that Apple is pursuing its usual market segment, creating an XR product that is so high quality that people will want to have it. As for Meta, while he appreciated the efforts of the people working there, he said that doesn’t agree much with its strategy. Regarding the Quest line, he said that Meta pursued a low-price strategy too early, even before the device’s value could be perceived by people. And regarding the Quest Pro, he said that it has been rushed and that it has been released with interesting features like eye and hand tracking, but without seriously investing in them (e.g. without sharing enough applications using them), so no one understood the value of those features. These are all interesting insights from a man that knows XR very well.
You can try Vision Pro famous UX on Quest Pro, but…
Thanks to the team at Nova UI, it is now possible to download an opensource APK to try a demo of the Apple Vision Pro iconic menu usable via eye+hand tracking on the Quest Pro. I have gone hands-on with it, and I can tell you that it is worse than I imagined…
More info (Vision Pro demo on Quest Pro)
More info (Hands-on Vision Pro demo on Quest Pro)
Nintendo sees potential in the metaverse, but not now
Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa said that he thinks that the concept of Metaverse has potential, but that is not easy for the company to do something with it that has the “Nintendo like approach — which is to say, one that is easily understood by many consumers”. So Nintendo may enter the metaverse, but not now.
A Redditor created the headset of his dreams
A Redditor assembled the parts of multiple headsets to create the headset with the features he was dreaming about. The resulting wide-FOV headset, dubbed “Hades Widebody” looks like a Frankenstein of components, but it surprisingly works. Kudos to this guy, which has also released opensource how to recreate this device.
There is a huge sphere of LEDs in Las Vegas
This is not strictly XR news, but I guess can be relevant to the people in our community. In Las Vegas, it has been built a huge sphere all covered with LED displays that can create majestic effects on the skyline. It an impressive work, which has cost something like $2.3 BILLIONS.
More info (Las Vegas’s new Dome)
More info (The dome costed $2.3B)
Meta launches a fund for Indian XR Startups
My dear Indian friends, there is a piece of news that may interest you. Meta has announced a grant of $250,000 for five Indian startups that build mixed-reality products using the Meta Presence Platform. Meta’s purpose is to kickstart an XR ecosystem in the country. This is very good to hear.
Discover the games in the Steam Summer Sale
In a very interesting thread on Reddit, people in the VR community discuss what are the best VR games to get discounted during the Steam Summer Sale and why. If you want to buy some PCVR games, I suggest you give it a read!
Pico introduces referral scheme
Like Oculus, also Pico has introduced a referral scheme so that if you have a Pico headset, you can give a special code to a friend of yours and if he buys a Pico device, too, you both get a bunch of free games. It’s a decent deal.
Some news about content
- Developer Taito has released a first gameplay teaser of Space Invaders: World Defense, the AR retrogame it is building together with Google
- Keiichi Matsuda’s new studio, Liquid City, is working on a few interesting innovative games, like GOFL, an AR golf game that uses the real world for its courses
More info (Space Invaders — Road To VR)
More info (Space Invaders — Upload VR)
More info (Liquid City)
Some reviews about content
- JoyWay’s Dead Hook is a fast-paced adrenaline-powered action game. It doesn’t invent anything new, but consolidates existing mechanics in its genre
- Quantaar tries to become the Smash Bros of VR, but it lacks providing the sense of physicality to do that well
- Yupitergrad 2 continues the setting of the first episode but adds a lot of repetitive walking across the same paths that makes the game frustrating
More info (Dead Hook)
More info (Quantaar)
More info (Yupitergrad 2)
Other news
John Carmack reviewed the Bigscreen Beyond and praised it… but just in the tethered devices category
Someone made a short Quest Pro demo with the same interface as Sword Art Online
HTC has discontinued the Cosmos Elite in the US. No one cares, I guess
Ryuichi Sakamoto is no more, but his art keeps living on the Magic Leap 2
The WEF has chosen “metaverse for mental health” as one of the top 10 emerging technologies of 2023
BMW has unveiled its smartglasses for motorcyclists
Linus Tech Tips has reviewed the Viture Glasses and didn’t like them much
Tom Ffiske wrote an interesting article about the current viability of subscription services in VR
A Nigerian guy is selling its AR paintings at $10K each
SteamVR introduced Automatic Controller Binding to improve the compatibility of all the possible controllers with SteamVR games
News from partners (and friends)
Tony Parisi leaves Lamina1
Tony Parisi has left his current role as Chief Product Officer at Lamina1 (where he’s staying as an advisor) to engage in a new adventure as a music creator in the web3-powered metaverse. I can only wish him the best of luck. Go, fucking go, Tony!
Learn more
Zero Caliber to receive a huge update
XReal Games will release a big Zero Caliber update later this month, introducing crossplay PvP, modding support, and many other improvements and bug fixes. Let’s hope all its players will have fun with these new features!
Learn more
Some XR fun
2 cents
Funny link
It hurts
Funny link
What if
Funny link
Fetish tracker
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate for my blog, but to the poor people that in Ukraine are facing the consequences of the war and the ones that in Italy have been victims of the flood. I will leave you the link to donate for these two causes below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
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And now here you are the links to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
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(Header image by Apple)
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