An announcement slipped unexpectedly on the evening of December 31, as a wish to set the course for this new year. Vivo, a Chinese manufacturer hitherto best known for its smartphones, wants to invest in the field of virtual reality, and in particular mixed reality. A first prototype will be presented before the end of the year, assures the brand.
A stock
Buy on Fnac.com
An ambitious project for Vivo
Obviously, it is still too early for the brand to tell us more about its new product. But Vivo nevertheless shares a visual bearing the words “MR” (for mixted realitymixed reality), and in the center we can see the contours of a mask inevitably reminiscent of Apple’s Vision Pro.
If Vivo gives itself time before considering marketing its headset (the deadline of fall 2025 only concerns a prototype), the Chinese brand will have to jostle to find a place in a market which, despite seemingly timid sales, attracts big names in tech.
Samsung, and especially Meta, are also in the running to compete with Apple’s premium headphones. Apple which, in any case, might not continue its investments for very long.
-Apple gives up?
According to the investigative site The Information, the Cupertino firm has in fact halted production of its mixed reality headset launched at the beginning of February 2024 in the United States. In question? Sales which are not taking off and stocks which are still generous which should allow it to last until the launch of an inevitable new model.
But rather than focusing on an Apple Vision Pro 2, the brand would instead focus on marketing a more affordable headset, notably with lower quality screens (the big strong point of the Vision Pro). However, even Apple doesn’t seem to believe it. According to The Information’s sources, only four million units of this reduced-price headset will be produced. That’s half as much as Apple hoped to sell Vision Pro.
If we know that the company led by Tim Cook was absolutely not targeting the general public with its headset, we can admit that it simply did not hit its target… at all. Launched at almost €4,000 in France, the Vision Pro is a luxury product, which has not succeeded in changing the habits of the most enthusiastic.
The fact remains that decades of commercial attempts and failures in the field of virtual and mixed reality do not seem to discourage the tech giants, determined to carve out a piece of the pie – however small it may be.
