Regardless of Vision Pro\u2019s eventual commercial success, there\u2019s no doubt that the device is a long-awaited boost in confidence for China\u2019s XR industry.<\/p>\n

Chinese device makers have been through a few years of challenging times. For one, \u201cCOVID translated to a breakdown in international ties for many young companies just as the global XR ecosystem was gaining momentum,\u201d Newton-Tanzer suggested.<\/p>\n

XR startups have also been facing a harder time convincing Chinese investors, who Newton-Tanzer described as \u201cparticularly sensitive to hype cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNegative press from the inevitable breakdown of the metaverse hype has led to many companies treading water,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this way, the Apple release is a beacon of hope shining through the current storm, which many will use to bolster the case for their business, as the respected hardware giant brings its formidable 2 billion users into the fold.\u201d<\/p>\n

The positive mood shift, in turn, could spur investments by various players that will benefit the long-term growth of the young industry.<\/p>\n

Misa Zhu, founder and CEO of Hangzhou-based AR glasses maker Rokid, reckons Vision Pro will help drive the supply chain. Given the relatively small shipment volume of AR and VR devices, factories have been reluctant to scale up production capacity, resulting in deep costs for manufacturers which often have to let consumers share the costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that manufacturers see Apple is betting on AR, they will be more confident in ramping up production. A flourishing supply chain will benefit not just Apple but also the other players in the industry,\u201d suggested Zhu.<\/p>\n

Zhu also believes that Apple will attract a flood of developers to create applications and content for the Vision Pro ecosystem. These developers will want to maximize the reach of their work<\/span> so they will likely also publish them on other platforms, benefiting the less influential players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howie Li, founder and CEO of TCL\u2019s XR brand RayNeo, which recently introduced lightweight AR glasses with features like real-time translation, navigation and message prompts, echoed Zhu\u2019s forecast: \u201cWhen we examine the industry landscape, while Vision Pro didn\u2019t unveil groundbreaking new AR use cases at WWDC, it has created a pivotal development platform for AR applications. This platform will play a significant role in driving the global growth of the AR application ecosystem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zhu is thankful that Vision Pro is playing an important role in popularizing the concept of AR and distinguishing it from VR, which has been more familiar to the public thanks to its focus on entertainment and games.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people mistook us for a VR company before, but having seen Vision Pro\u2019s use cases, they now know that we are focused on AR and are quite different from companies like Pico, saving us from educating the market,\u201d said the founder.<\/p>\n

Make a move<\/h2>\n

As with previous pivotal technology launches from Silicon Valley, Vision Pro will prompt Chinese manufacturers who have been observing Apple\u2019s progress to \u201cmake a move,\u201d said XR industry veteran Sea Wan Toong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be companies coming out with similar modules, following Apple\u2019s concept. The hardware isn\u2019t hard to make, but Chinese companies lag behind in developing optic software,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But not everyone wants to follow the giant. Xreal (previously Nreal), co-founded by a Magic Leap veteran and has raised around $250 million in funding to work on lightweight XR glasses, has gone in \u201cvery different directions\u201d with its product development from Apple, said Peng Jin, co-founder at Xreal.<\/p>\n

Its earlier product, the Xreal Light, is similar to Vision Pro. But the team soon found that many people were using the glasses for watching videos and playing games. These simpler tasks don\u2019t require features like SLAM algorithms, which gather information about the physical environment, maps it and puts the user on the map. So the company subsequently introduced a model without SLAM, which is cheaper and has a longer battery life as a result, the Xreal Air.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe new players in the market are in fact working together to bring diversity and awareness to this AR revolution,\u201d Peng said.<\/p>\n