A few days ago, market research company CCS Insight made a prediction in a report – due to market uncertainty, HTC will sell off its VR business and exit the VR market in 2026.
The news quickly aroused widespread attention and discussion. HTC may no longer be the smartphone overlord of the past, but it is at least the pioneer of VR headsets. At one time, it could even be said to be the leader of the VR market.
Of course, HTC soon issued a stern statement denying rumors of withdrawing from the VR market in 2026. In the statement, HTC also said that VR virtual reality, AR augmented reality and AI artificial intelligence technology will be the three pillars of future technology. “These technologies will not only combine with human nature, but also release human beings’ infinite imagination, thus completely changing our world.” world.”
In short: the market potential is so huge that HTC will never give up.
However, CCS Insight’s predictions may not be reliable, and HTC’s solemn statement is not very convincing.
Some people may still remember that at the end of 2016, it was reported that HTC was about to sell its smartphone business. The official “stern statement denied” the same. However, in September 2017, HTC still officially announced that about 2,000 members would participate in the production of Pixel mobile phones. And the licensed patents were sold to Google – which basically hollowed out HTC’s mobile phone department.
Will history repeat itself?
The old and new forces are reshuffled, and HTC is gradually on the edge
Rumors that HTC will withdraw from the VR market can trigger discussions. The reality is that HTC’s VR business has developed slowly in recent years, and many people have not even heard about HTC Vive for several years. It was not until the CES show earlier this year that HTC launched its first wireless all-in-one head display: HTC Vive XR Elite.
Vive XR Elite, photo/HTC
But in the past two or three years, the AR/VR market has undergone a lot of changes
Meta’s bet on wireless all-in-one VR headsets has finally come to fruition. Quest 2 has detonated the VR headset market globally, achieving sales of tens of millions of VR headsets for the first time. It is also of great significance to Meta. . According to official disclosures, of the nearly 20 million units sold in the Quest series, Quest 2 has sold more than 18 million units.
At the end of last year, AR glasses brand Xreal (formerly Nreal) announced that the 100,000th unit of AR glasses had rolled off the production line, achieving the world’s first mass production of consumer-grade AR hardware exceeding 100,000 units.
Not to mention that the release of Apple’s Vision Pro this year has attracted the attention of all companies and practitioners, including Vision Pro’s potential competitors. As Xu Chi, founder and CEO of XREAL, said: “For the domestic VR/AR industry, This year is an exciting year. The emergence of Apple’s MR headset has allowed the entire industry to see the future development direction.”
Perhaps as HTC said, the three major technologies of VR, AR and AI will become the pillars of future technology, but the question is, can HTC occupy a place in this new wave of computing? This is the core.
You must know that a few years ago, HTC was still a pioneer and leader in the VR market, not only in terms of products and market share, but also launched a large number of ecological cultivation programs from a high position to support start-up companies in various VR industry chains.
However, many things have finally changed.
From smartphones to VR, HTC wants to seize the new wave of computing
2015 is a critical year for HTC
This year, HTC founder and chairman Wang Xuehong stepped onto the stage as concurrently CEO and took the helm of HTC. Former CEO Zhou Yongming switched to a research and development position. At the same time, HTC also began to officially bet on VR, and jointly released the first-generation VR headset-HTC Vive with Valve (the parent company of Steam).
In April of the following year, HTC held the VR China Strategy and Ecosystem Conference in Beijing. According to the memories of participants, the conference hall was packed with people at that time, and many people had to stand to listen to the entire meeting. Not only that, HTC has also launched a support project for global VR entrepreneurial teams, the Vive X Accelerator Program.
In the past, as a pure hardware manufacturer, HTC had basically no experience in ecological development. However, the Vive X accelerator program has launched three phases, investing in more than 90 start-up teams in Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, and Los Angeles.
In addition, HTC has reached an in-depth cooperation with iQiyi to promote the implementation of iQiyi’s 4K ultra-high-definition VR videos on the Vive platform; it has also reached an exclusive cooperation with Warner Bros. to produce related VR content for the hit movie “Ready Player One”; and NetEase Games has reached a cooperation to launch the VR game “Dragon Caller of Dawn”.
Behind HTC’s all-out bet on VR, it is not only its own determination, but also catching up with a good time, because in the second year, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, Huawei, Pico… Domestic and foreign technology giants and startups have launched Entering this blue ocean, mergers and acquisitions and investments in the field of VR are happening one after another, and a wave of VR fever is sweeping the world.
Xiaomi press conference, photo / Xiaomi
At that time, everyone from the media, investors to manufacturers were talking about the “first year of VR.” HTC China general manager Wang Congqing even optimistically predicted that VR device sales would surpass mobile phones in four years, with a future market value of more than $110 billion.
We all know the rest of the story. The VR industry soon experienced a new round of cold wave. The generally high cost and selling price of VR equipment, the immaturity of VR-related technologies, and the continued expansion of smartphones have all made VR manufacturers Faced with the dilemma of not being able to sell products.
Even though HTC Vive occupied the first place in JD.com’s VR sales during the 2017 Double 11 Shopping Festival, according to industry research company TrendForce’s calculations, total HTC Vive shipments in 2017 only reached 500,000 units. scale. In 2018, this number continued to decline to 230,000 units.
Will HTC Vive still be around in 3 years?
To answer this question, we must first go back to the premise of CCS Insight’s prediction that HTC will withdraw from the VR market – market uncertainty. There are two meanings here. One is whether the VR market will experience a downturn after the MR craze triggered by Apple’s Vision Pro; the other is whether HTC Vive will be further marginalized in the next three years.
The actual situation may be very pessimistic
In terms of products, the HTC Vive product line is basically positioned as high-end. The first-generation Vive is priced at US$800 and the latest Vive XR Elite is priced at US$1,099, which is between the Quest series and Vision Pro. , similar to the previous Quest Pro.
Vive XR Elite, photo/HTC
However, at this price point, if head display manufacturers want to persuade consumers to buy, they need to provide a strong driving force. The problem is that the failure of Quest Pro comes first. HTC has difficult to say advantages in hardware configuration, chips, algorithms, and funds. How to subvert the existing market perception?
Of course, Apple Vision Pro’s price of $3,400 also needs stronger reasons to convince consumers, but at least Apple has provided disruptive displays, interactions and ideas through the integration of self-developed chips and software and hardware. “Spatial Video “Immersive ultra-clear viewing” and Apple’s appeal to developers at least have a certain degree of confidence.
Moreover, HTC has missed the early dividends of wireless all-in-one VR headsets. A wider range of new generation consumer VR headset users trust Quets, PS VR and Pico. HTC Vive’s market appeal has long been sluggish.
Frankly speaking, under such a background, it is difficult to be optimistic about whether HTC can still make a comeback.
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