VR equipment manufacturers are catching up? Switchable panels and hand tracking technology upgrades

The consumer-grade VR equipment market suffered a setback in 2023, and entrants are still deeply involved in it. Players in the industry chain are waiting for a new highlight moment to come. As a downstream terminal player, if new products are not released, it is difficult to gain a competitive advantage in the current consumer market by relying on old products, let alone "recovering blood". In April this year, Xiaopai Technology and Dapeng VR, two VR equipment brands, took the lead in releasing new products, targeting different consumer groups.

Xiaopai Technology released two VR headsets, Crystal Super and Crystal Light. Among them, Crystal Super starts at about RMB 13,599, and Crystal Light starts at about RMB 5,599. It is planned to start shipping at the end of May this year. It can be seen that Crystal Super will be aimed at users in the high-end market. Dapeng VR and Ultraleap officially released the PCVR headset E4 Arc, which supports hand tracking and is aimed at arcade game manufacturers, corporate training and 3D designer user groups.

The biggest highlight of Crystal Super is the optical panel. Previously, Apple Vision Pro used the first 4K binocular Micro OLED high-specification micro display screen in its display solution, which boosted the volume of Micro OLED panels in the VR industry chain. However, Micro OLED and QLED display solutions show their own capabilities in different application scenarios. For example, QLED has certain advantages in color saturation, resolution, color gamut, etc.

Crystal Super (Source: Pimax Technology)

In the past, most VR devices used one display solution, but Crystal Super achieved "having the best of both worlds". Pimax Technology has set up switchable QLED and Micro-OLED optical panels for it. This is also the industry's first ultra-high-definition VR headset with replaceable optical engines.

Crystal Super has a total pixel count of 29.5 million pixels, compared with 23 million pixels of Apple Vision Pro. Correspondingly, the field of view (FOV) and the number of pixels per degree (PPD) have also been upgraded, with a PPD of 50-57 PPD. In addition, Crystal Super also uses Pimax Technology's self-developed new glass lens to enhance clarity and immersion. When using QLED panels, it can be matched with glass aspherical lenses, and when using micro-OLED, the self-developed Pancake glass lens can be used. The refresh rate of QLED is 120HZ, and the refresh rate of micro-OLED is 90HZ.

In other aspects, Crystal Super is equipped with four cameras to complete eye tracking. However, Crystal Super does not carry an XR2 chip and has no battery.

As a product that focuses on cost-effectiveness, Crystal Light has abandoned the replaceable lenses and eye tracking functions, but upgraded the fixed gaze point rendering technology. Fixed gaze point rendering technology 2.0 does not rely on eye tracking function, breaks through the performance limitations of GPU, and can also improve performance. The PPD is 35, and the weight is reduced by 30%.

Ultraleap focuses on hand tracking technology, and in cooperation with Dapeng VR, it has enabled it in the new PCVR headset E4 Arc. Dapeng VR said that E4 Arc is based on the 6DoF PCVR E4. It integrates Ultraleap's Leap Motion Controller 2 hand tracking camera, which can be used to interact naturally in the virtual space with both hands.

Ultraleap has accumulated a number of technologies in gesture interaction. Recently, Ultraleap released Hyperion, the successor solution to Gemini hand tracking software, which has functions such as micro-gesture interaction, object tracking, performance switching, and powerful object processing capabilities. In terms of micro-gesture interaction, Hyperion can track finger movements as small as millimeters. In terms of object tracking, Hyperion allows the Leap Motion Controller 2 camera to track AR markers, so that it can track any object.

Judging from the above new products, VR equipment manufacturers have created their own competitive advantages through technological upgrades. For example, Pimax Technology has invested heavily in optical display solutions, providing switchable optical panel solutions and self-developed Pancake glass lenses. Dapeng VR has upgraded the interactive experience of its products by cooperating with gesture interaction manufacturers. However,

it should be noted that many functions that VR devices can provide can also be provided by AR devices. The VR market is also facing the catch-up of the AR market. According to data from market research firm IDC, China's AR/VR headset shipments will reach 725,000 units in 2023, of which VR shipments will reach 463,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 57.9%, while AR shipments will reach 262,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 154.4%. In the future, whether the new products of VR equipment manufacturers can drive consumers' motivation to upgrade their devices will become one of the keys to market growth.

On the other hand, according to IDC's statistics on the market share of major manufacturers in China's VR market in 2023, the current top 5 manufacturers are Pico, Dapeng VR, Nolo, HTC, and Sony. Among them, Pico still ranks first with a market share of more than 50% in 2023. Pimax Technology is not on the list yet. Whether the VR market landscape will undergo new changes in 2024 is worth looking forward to.