Samsung Falling Behind Apple In AR/VR Space Due To 'Obsession' With Foldable Smartphones (macrumors.com) 67
Samsung is significantly falling behind in the rush to bring augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices to market, partially due to the company's "obsession" with foldable smartphones, The Korea Herald reports. MacRumors reports: Samsung's main competitors, including Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Sony, are developing or have already launched AR and VR devices amid massive industry-wide investments into the future of the technology, but it is unclear if Samsung is actively developing such devices at all. eBest Investment and Securities analyst Kim Gwang-soo said: "Big tech companies, rather than smartphone manufacturers, are leading XR devices because they have the necessary content and platforms. Google has an operating system Android, Microsoft has Xbox and Sony has PlayStation. It's risky for Samsung to roll out XR devices, so it has no choice but to stick to foldable smartphones."
The growth of Samsung's smartphone business has slowed down to just 0.9 percent year on year, but the company remains committed to the potential of foldable devices to reignite momentum. Samsung shareholders are said to be concerned by its perceived preoccupation with foldable devices, which is distracting the company's attention from the need to compete with future AR and VR devices from its main rivals.
Industry insiders claim that even if Samsung develops its own AR and VR devices, it lacks the content and platform to create a cohesive and compelling ecosystem. In an attempt to catch up in the race to make inroads into the AR and VR market, Samsung made a belated investment in DigiLens, a California startup that makes AR glasses. To stay relevant, market observers are warning that Samsung may need to find a partner that already has content or a platform in exchange for chip expertise, similar to the relationship between Qualcomm and Microsoft.
The growth of Samsung's smartphone business has slowed down to just 0.9 percent year on year, but the company remains committed to the potential of foldable devices to reignite momentum. Samsung shareholders are said to be concerned by its perceived preoccupation with foldable devices, which is distracting the company's attention from the need to compete with future AR and VR devices from its main rivals.
Industry insiders claim that even if Samsung develops its own AR and VR devices, it lacks the content and platform to create a cohesive and compelling ecosystem. In an attempt to catch up in the race to make inroads into the AR and VR market, Samsung made a belated investment in DigiLens, a California startup that makes AR glasses. To stay relevant, market observers are warning that Samsung may need to find a partner that already has content or a platform in exchange for chip expertise, similar to the relationship between Qualcomm and Microsoft.
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Neither does AR/VR, frankly. It's the same pile of poop it was in the 90's.
That's amazing. (Score:2)
I had no idea that a company couldn't do more than one thing. Good to know. *rolls eyes*
Re:That's amazing. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: That's amazing. (Score:3)
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Foldable phones seem popular with people who consume video media on their telephone. Especially the TV addicts who would rather be watching reruns than being stuck with time to think about their life, or to contemplate... anything.
OTOH, at some future time when the technology is advanced enough, most people will likely have HUDs on their glasses/sunglasses. Uncorrected HUD lenses might even become very popular, especially with people who are addicted to their notification feed.
These two categories of addict
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I have a folding phone (Fold 3) and it is amazing for work. I can open up prints and product specs and actually read the things on the go.
Re: That's amazing. (Score:4, Informative)
People always call any new tech a fad — even when they are consistently sold out. Electric cars? Fad. VR? Fad. Folding phones? Fad. Guess what genius, VR is not a fad. Neither are folding phones. Heck I remember when posts that smartphones are stupid would get modded +5 Insightful by the so called nerds and tech geeks on slashdot. Reference: https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
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THANK YOU!!! I am a phablet user since before the term came out. I have always wanted the largest possible screen that I can still fit in my pocket; if it's larger, it's a tablet. I absolutely despise those itty bitty tiny "phones".
So, for me at at least, the foldable is the next great thing for a genuine phablet lover like me. The ONLY reasons I haven't adopted them as my daily driver is the price and durability; once those get solved (hopefully not more than another gen or 2) I'll be getting one.
Also, as
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Yup. Back in 2005, long before the iPhone came out, I predicted that large touchscreen phones would sell well. Reference: https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
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Smart speakers? Fad. Smart watches? Fad. Treehouse? Fad. Google glass? Fad. MoviePass? Fad. Kinect? Fad. 3D TV? The electronic industry's perennial "this time it's for real" fad. Cryptocurrency? The finance industry's perennial "this time it's for real" fad.
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People always call any new tech a fad â" even when they are consistently sold out. Electric cars? Fad. VR? Fad.
Often yeah. VR has certainly been a fad at least twice in the past, but the hardware is now good enough to make it actually work. I do suspect VR is going to remain niche from purely a convenience point of view. Console gaming is more popular than PC gaming. Both are dwarfed by mobile gaming due to the sheer convenience factor.
I'm not going to break out a VR headset while I'm on the can, but
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Dude, that comment you linked to was perfectly insightful back in 2005, before Android and before the iPhone. The phones of 2005 sucked badly.
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The commenter was advocating not working on the iPhone or Android. He was literally advocating halting the progress towards smartphones and integrated devices. How was that “perfectly insightful?” The iPhone was the result of doubling down on integrating multiple devices into one.
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Re: That's amazing. (Score:2)
Re: That's amazing. (Score:2)
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Again, if you think VR is 'the same novelty as 3D TVs', then you have no idea what the real benifit of VR is, or what VR actually is. Maybe you should really delve into what's possible with VR. It's not only for games, even though it is so much more interesting for a lot of gametypes then playing it on a 2d flatscreen, but it's also very helpful for learning or creating, hell even meetings in VR (with head-/handtracking) it is better than most voice/videomeetings.
It's not a simple novelty.
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It's so convenient to be able to keep a tablet in my pocket; great for stuff like reading manga on public transportation.
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I don't want either, but I don't want AR headsets more.
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It turns out, each engineer is a finite resource, and if they're sitting at their desk working on one project, they're not also working on the other project at the same time. They would have to stop working on one, context switch, and then work on the other.
It also turns out that companies hire engineers by units of single humans, they pay salaries on a per-person basis, and they have limited R&D money to spend on salaries.
*rolls eyes*
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Yeah, but you can bet that people working on foldable display tech aren't working on AR. Foldable displays are roughly 75% hardware component design and 25% enclosure design, whereas VR/AR headsets are about 0% hardware component design, 10% hardware enclosure design, 40% operating system/framework/server backend design, 10% marketing, and 40% getting game developers on board. :-)
Besides, at a company the size of Samsung, I doubt that would even be designed by the same division as cell phones. You might
Also... (Score:1)
I had no idea that a company couldn't do more than one thing. Good to know. *rolls eyes*
I had no idea other companies were "behind" on a product segment where best guesses are Apple releases something at least a year from now.
Not a single mention of the Odyssey? (Score:1)
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foldable? meh (Score:1)
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everything has its end (Score:1)
Who cares about AR/VR (Score:5, Insightful)
Who cares about AR/VR? This seems to be this decade's 3D TV, or another iteration at making a Virtual Boy. People talk about it, play around with it, but it isn't something you would use everyday.
A Mac, I use daily. Apple watch? Often. iPhone? Yep, everywhere. Now, where would I bother to put a VR helmet on for more than maybe a few minutes in the evening for some tired games, or maybe some place making a rehash of Second Life (which, again, like this stuff, was supposedly the be all and end all, and now is at best an empty sideshow). Most people are burned out with gaming in general, having paid $1000 to $2000 to a scalper so they can play with their friends, as well as whatever atrocious charges EA or MS charge for their games. Will everyone want to pay a few grand for yet another headset? Doubtful.
My two centavos: Just let this stuff pass.
Re: Who cares about AR/VR (Score:2)
Like how Tesla is falling behind, right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Samsung Falling Behind Apple In AR/VR Space Due To 'Obsession' With Foldable Smartphones
Just like how Tesla is falling behind in hydrogen space due to 'obsession' with batteries, right?
Yeah, I bet Samsung will sell more foldable phones than any AR/VR headsets they could have made. Only a VR obsessed fool, or someone paid to be one, would write a headline like that.
Foldable? (Score:2)
You mean like a flip phone? Something one never has to worry about getting creases in its screen? Something which is literally designed to open and close? Something which is already produced?
Is this called trying to reinvent the wheel?
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It's a flip phone with a giant screen.
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It's a flip phone with a giant screen.
A flip phone with two synchronized screens with no gap, that the phone can either treat as one big screen or can use independently. And when you close it the screens are awesomely protected.
It's pretty cool, actually. I don't want one, but my wife, who has small hands, small pockets, small purses, and leaves her phone sitting around the house on end tables and such, likes hers.
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Sure they're wheels but the old wheels are hand made of wood and have wrought iron bands. Perhaps a reinvention is due?
Gear VR (Score:5, Insightful)
Here is Samsung's website about Gear VR.
https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-vr/
If anything, Samsung was some of the true innovators of VR. They have patents from 2005 of using a mobile phone for the screen of VR. (Mobile phone tech then wasn't remotely there then though to do it).
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It goes much further back than that too. Those were real VR headset they showed in the original Jurassic Park movie. Maybe this is the year if VR, but I doubt it. It won’t take off until they can figure out how to do it without making most people feel sick to their stomachs. Even then, it has limited uses outside of gaming. You certainly wouldn’t expect it to be the next iPhone or something like that.
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While that's years after the movie of Jurassic Park, it was a playable unit back then.
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My first experience was with the VFX1 headgear.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I think I played quake and some flight sims, etc on it. Didnt own one, but was friendly with a shop which had one on demo, so had a bunch of chances to try it out.
Was an interesting toy.
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I got a GearVR from Samsung.
Ran it off my Samsung Note8. Was disappointed when they pulled all support for that as it was a cool toy with interesting potential. Not sure if I will buy in if Samsung releases any other VR stuff, since I don't want to be stuck with an unsupported paperweight again.
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I used GearVR with a Galaxy S6. It worked great! I played Minecraft and a number of other games on it, and had a lot of fun. It came in particularly handy on a flight at one point.
Really the worst thing was the awkwardness of having to snap your phone into the headset, but that has now been solved with the Quest line (which I have put many, many hours into).
So many naysayers here... VR is waaay better than it was in the 90s a
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> Not for Samsung, not for Playstation (PS VR is still
> niche), Facebook, Steam. Yes, 3 of these four are
> still doing VR. And have been for how many years?
> And they still aren't mainstream, they still aren't in
> most people's houses.
In fairness though, that's the sort of the place where Apple has traditionally had success. They have very seldom actually been the *first* to bring a given technology to market. And when they have, the results have often come out rather... Newtony. What Appl
Re: Gear VR (Score:2)
Or is Samsung just very clever... (Score:3)
And they are working on a flexible phone that will wrap around your face like an AR headset?
WTF... (Score:2)
Consumers have been consistently yawning at VR (Score:3)
They think AR/VR/3D fine and dandy, but they aren't willing in large numbers to say "take my money!".
Foldables were the bright side of 2021 for Samsung.
I have two of their tablets, and their flagship phone, so I'm noticing how they're investing effort into developing software that foldables can put to extra good use, even though it also is neat on tablets. Samsung has every reason to think foldables will generate a lot of profit for them, and that consumers will see them as leaders in the field. It looks like Samsung has made a lot of profit on each one of those devices that they sold.
AR/VR is something they can jump into at a later date, and it's a field where right now no company can think that they've gained a significant and long lasting dominance with consumer level devices, one that will generate a lot of profit.
Re: Consumers have been consistently yawning at VR (Score:2)
Nope (Score:2)
AR/VR has been tried and rejected twice. I fail to see why this third time will work. When Facebook demoed its virtual meeting software in a series of "interviews", all I could think was, 'Why would anyone choose this over a simple video call?" The answer is, they wouldn't. In reality, UI/UX and input interfaces are effectively solved problems. Like a reinvented wheel, it's noticeably worse than the wheels you already have.
By the same measure, foldable phones are stupid. It's attempting to make the screen
Apple falling behind Samsung (Score:3)
... in the foldable-phone space due to "obsession" with AR/VR.
You can write the headline either way, and it makes an equal amount of sense.
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Yeah, the whole thing is uninformed speculation and wish projection.
I doubt any of the claims are actually true. Sounds like some engineer in Seoul got drunk at a bar and started ranting about things he's only half-informed on.
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It’s probably a better bet. (Score:2)
If I owned a smartphone company, I certainly wouldn’t be investing in AR. I have yet to see anything that would convince me it is a viable product. Maybe inside Apple there are some top secret prototypes that are more convincing, but I doubt it. That being said, I don’t know if there’s a huge market for folding screens either.
I was skeptical ... (Score:2)
... but my wife loves her foldable phone.
Granted, it's mostly because it was the only way she could get a decent phone that would be a reasonable size to hold in her hand and fit in her purse. But it also protects the main screen when folded and just sitting around.
Behind? (Score:2)
Meteo threat (Score:2)