IDC: China's AR/VR shipments in 2023 will be 725,000 units

According to the latest report released by IDC, in 2023, China’s AR/VR headset shipments will be 725,000 units (sales-in caliber), a year-on-year decrease of 39.8% in 2022. Among them, 262,000 AR units were shipped, a year-on-year increase of 154.4%, and VR shipments were 463,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 57.9%.

For the whole year of 2023, AR shipments accounted for 36.1% of the overall AR/VR shipments in the Chinese market, reaching a record high, of which 118,000 AR units were shipped in the fourth quarter. , VR shipments reached 110,000 units. Although some AR manufacturers are trying to suppress shipments through channels, this is also the first time that AR shipments in the Chinese market have exceeded VR in a single quarter.

Overall AR market in 2023

In 2023, the Chinese AR market will ship 261,000 units, of which 230,000 split AR units will be shipped and 31,000 integrated AR units will be shipped. At that time, the leading domestic AR manufacturers were mainly startups, and the top four manufacturers were all startups with a short history of establishment. They had all completed multiple rounds of large-amount financing in the past two years.

Compared with the strategy of manufacturers gathering together to release lightweight split AR glasses in 2022, in 2023, domestic mainstream brands also began to launch all-in-one AR glasses equipped with Qualcomm processors. AR glasses.

Among the split AR glasses, each product line focuses on smart projection scenarios, such as XREAL Air 2/2 pro, Rayneo Air 1S/Air/Air plus, Rokid Air/Max. The competition is fierce, and the unit price of shipments Basically they are all under $400.

The focus is slightly different. XREAL's sound quality and electrochromic characteristics have made it a good reputation among users who need to travel. Rayneo's first switch direct connection is favored by console gamers, and Rokid's first Station box There are massive resources to promote AR away from mobile phones.

From the perspective of shipping channels, in addition to selling products to consumers on e-commerce platforms, each company has begun to build an offline retail system and cooperate with domestic new energy vehicle brands for joint shipments.

Among all-in-one AR glasses, Inmo is deeply involved in listening to books and information prompts. The X2 launched by Rayneo is mainly aimed at high-end machine geek players and developers to test the waters of true wireless AR glasses. However, its price is higher than split glasses. Currently, such products are concentrated around $600.

Overall VR market in 2023

In 2023, China’s VR market will ship 463,000 units, including 357,000 integrated VR units and 106,000 split VR units, led by Pico Chinese VR manufacturers have begun to significantly reduce costs and increase efficiency, cutting advertising and marketing investment expenses, reducing platform subsidies, weakening promotional activities such as punch-in cash rebates, and reducing employee size.

iQiyi Dream Bloom encountered a capital chain break in 2023 and failed to launch its new XR headset as scheduled. Sony Playstation VR2 will make a strong comeback in 2023, but shipments will only be in the first quarter, and will continue to digest first-quarter inventory in the later period.

None of the top 4 manufacturers has launched any eye-catching new products in 2023. The main series are still old products such as Pico 4, Nolo CM1, DPVR E4, HTC Vive Cosmos, etc. However, due to the current all-in-one VR replacement cycle is still relatively It is relatively long, the game content on each platform is highly consistent, and consumers lack motivation to upgrade.

In the commercial market, the vast majority of shipments in 2023 will still be concentrated in online and downstream entertainment experience stores, and commercial purchases such as education, government, and medical care will be smaller. At the same time, traditional cultural blogs, cultural tourism and other projects have also been impacted by AR manufacturers. AR glasses manufacturers, such as Rokid, have advantages in channels and content adaptation.

2024 AR/VR Market Outlook

AI R&D capabilities: Starting from the end of 2023, AI AR will help users achieve better NLP interaction and display screen presentation, in content generation, translation, and navigation. In multiple AR usage scenarios, where current hardware levels are relatively close, differences in AI capabilities will become the key to product differentiation among manufacturers.

Hardware innovation: After the release of Apple Vision Pro, the cost of Micro-oled screens has dropped rapidly and will gradually replace the current mainstream fast-lcd screens. In the future, pancake micro-oled will become the mainstream match in VR headsets. .

At the same time, with the development of Apple's next-generation products, the supply chain system will continue to grow, and hardware costs will accelerate in the next three years.

Manufacturer competition: At present, mobile phone manufacturers have a relatively complete layout of the AR track, and they also have strong supply chain management capabilities and offline store operation levels. Mobile phone manufacturers are expected to accelerate their entry into the AR market in 2024, which will be The current domestic AR manufacturer landscape has had a certain impact.

Apple Vision Pro is expected to enter the Chinese mainland market in 2024, which will lead domestic VR manufacturers to accelerate the layout of high-end lines. Apple has customized more than 600 native applications for it, and the first batch of 100,000 units has been sold. Less flow will go to XR developers. As it is gradually launched in countries other than the United States, developers in various places will adapt and innovate more content applications according to the characteristics of their own countries, completing the transformation of VR products from gaming equipment to productivity tools.

Zhao Siquan, senior analyst at IDC China, believes that there are still many uncertainties in China’s AR/VR market in 2024, and manufacturers’ new product release rhythm will be more affected by supply chain costs, the speed of building offline channel systems, and consumption. It is affected by multiple factors such as the degree of market recovery and the research and development progress of AR/VR content developers.

Compared with the strategy of heavily subsidizing new products to drive shipments in the past two years, manufacturers have now begun to focus on a certain degree of active user conversion, continuous content application repurchase, product innovation and other aspects. Against the backdrop of declining supply chain costs and rich content, China's AR/VR market will develop in a more healthy and sustainable direction.

The above is the detailed content of IDC: China's AR/VR shipments in 2023 will be 725,000 units. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!