It is recommended to focus on leading domestic terminal equipment manufacturers and manufacturers that have entered various XR supply chains or have relevant technical reserves.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that Huajin Securities released a research report saying that according to Wellsenn XR data, global AR headsets sold 180,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 20% year on year and 71% month on month. There are two reasons for the increase in sales in the fourth quarter. First, the fourth quarter is the traditional peak sales season. In recent years, AR glasses, which mainly focus on movie viewing scenarios, have continued to be recognized by consumers. Second, new product launches were intensive in the fourth quarter, and intensive promotion of new product launches contributed to a certain increase in sales. The bank believes that Apple will release Vision Pro in June 2023, and Apple's entry is expected to use its product ecosystem and platform content to drive the development of XR devices from relatively professional devices to general-purpose devices, thereby boosting industry penetration and market growth.
It is recommended to focus on leading domestic terminal equipment manufacturers and manufacturers that have entered various XR supply chains or have relevant technical reserves. Examples include: Zhaowei Electromechanical (003021.SZ) (IPD), Changying Precision (300115.SZ) (structural parts), Lixun Precision (002475.SZ) (OEM), Shenzhen Keda (688328.SH) (coating equipment), Rongqi Technology (301360.SZ) (lens+Pancake appearance inspection equipment), JPT (688025.SH) (glasses module inspection), etc.
Event: On February 27, 2024, OPPO unveiled a new generation of Air Glass 3 smart glasses at MWC 2024, which is currently in the prototype stage.
The views of Huajin Securities are as follows:
Position “Assistive Reality” glasses with AndesGPT models.
(1) Real-time information is provided through a full-color display in the glass lens. OPPO has a self-developed resin waveguide with a refractive index of 1.7 (which can eliminate the rainbow effect), showing brightness uniformity of more than 50% and peak eye brightness of more than 1000 nits. While providing a full-color display with automatic brightness adjustment, Air Glass 3 also provides a wearing experience very close to that of ordinary glasses. (2) OPPO's AndesGPT model can be accessed via smartphone, making it more helpful. Access the artificial intelligence features on the glasses by tapping the temple of the glasses to activate the artificial intelligence voice assistant. By connecting to the AndesGPT model, these glasses can understand text, images, video, and audio to interpret complex user scenarios. In addition to artificial intelligence functions, OPPO Air Glass 3 also supports functions such as music playback, voice calls, image browsing, and information display. It is reported that features such as teleprompter, navigation, timer, translation, and quick preview of health and fitness information will be introduced in future software updates. Using the Air Glass app, it can be connected to OPPO smartphones running Color OS 13 and above. OPPO Air Glass 3 weighs 50 grams (Air Glass and Air Glass 2 are 30 grams and 38 grams, respectively).
Smart projection/information alert/real AR glasses are the three major segments of the AR field.
(1) Intelligent screen projection: The main function of this type of product is screen projection based on a mobile phone, computer, game console or special equipment. This type of product basically achieves the display effect through screen reflection. There are two main technical paths: the free-form surface scheme and the BirdBath polarization scheme. The BirdBath polarization scheme is currently the most adopted technology path among mainstream AR glasses products. Smart projection products include Thunderbird's innovative Air, Air 1S, Air Plus, Rokid's Air, Max, Max Pro, XREAL (formerly Nreal) Air, Air 2, Dream Glass Flow, and some startup brands such as Maiyun and Tianqu Starry Sky. (2) Monochromatic information reminder AR glasses: These products can project simple text information in front of the user's eyes, such as real-time speech-to-text or real-time translation through a microphone, or the content of mobile phone messages on the eyeglass screen. The technical path for this type of product is basically a micro-LED+ optical waveguide optical solution. The display screen can be compared to an old monochromatic mobile phone. The light transmittance is high, it can also be freely used in outdoor scenes, and the appearance can also be designed to be close to ordinary black-framed glasses. The function may be single but highly practical. (3) Full-color binocular real and AR glasses: The characteristics of this type of product are, firstly, full-color binoculars, and secondly, a certain amount of local computing power. Real AR glasses can interact with virtual content to a certain extent with the real world through the camera on the glasses. For example, when a user uses glasses to navigate a map, the target seen by the glasses coincides with the actual path in real time. Such products include Thunderbird X2, INMO Air, and ArkonVV A1.
AR glasses for watching movies & informational glasses are the main source of increase in AR sales for the full year of 2023.
According to Wellsenn XR data, the global sales volume of AR headsets in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 88,000 units, up 20% year on year and 71% month on month. The sales volume of AR headsets in the Chinese domestic market was 64,000 units, up 52% year on year, and sales volume of B-side headsets was 80,000 units, up 14% year on year; sales volume of AR headsets in overseas markets was 93,000 units, up 11% year on year; overseas B-side sales volume in the fourth quarter was 25,000 units, up 5% year on year. There are two reasons for the increase in sales in the fourth quarter. First, the fourth quarter is the traditional peak sales season. In recent years, AR glasses, which mainly focus on movie viewing scenarios, have continued to be recognized by consumers. Second, new product launches were intensive in the fourth quarter, and intensive promotion of new product launches contributed to a certain increase in sales. Global AR sales in 2023 were 510,000 units, up 21% from 2022. Consumer-grade AR is the main source of growth. The main growth comes from AR glasses from brands such as Thunderbird, Rokid, Xreal, Viture, and ArkNovv, as well as information reminder glasses such as Video, Thunderbird, Starry Meizu, Li Weike, Singularity Approaching, and Vuzix.
Risk warning: The industrial chain will be impacted by changes in the macroeconomic situation; market demand for virtual reality devices falls short of expectations; consumer XR content development falls short of expectations.