Getting to Know You

Getting to Know You
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Yesterday we spent some time looking at the characteristics of AR glasses, particularly focused on the progression of the technology behind those devices.  While the technology is certainly important and will help to drive the industry forward, we noted that over the last year or two, the AR space has been seeing new interest from larger consumer electronics companies, some of whom are new to the space but have significant clout in other CE product categories.
In the very early days of AR, the industry was dominated by large CE and technology companies as indicated below, however as there was relatively little consumer traction, by 2017 all of the AR players were small and/or private companies.  This continued until 2019 when both Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) released updated versions of previous models, now more oriented toward the business community.  This drove a new crop of small AR developers to enter the space in 2020, which saw a large expansion in the number of models released, although all were from small AR companies.  By 2021 the space had attracted a number of Chinese CE companies, as well as small players, and last year major Chinese CE players offered their first forays into the AR space.
While detailing all of the companies in the AR space would be an arduous task, we show a quick summary of those companies having announced AR products that are expected to be released this year.  Some are well-known, while others are just passing through start-up mode.  We expect more such announcements this year, and potentially an MR device from Apple (AAPL), but even at this early point in the year, there are a 13 brands scheduled to release AR product this year, only two short of the total number of brands releasing Ar product for the entire 2022 year, so we expect the 2023 total will be higher than last year as the space develops better hardware and continues to look for practical applications.

​Here are the companies expected to release AR product this year:
Digilens (pvt)
Owned by SBG Labs (pvt) – Sunnyvale, CA – Purchased at foreclosure sale.  Leader in holographic Optical waveguides.  Investors – Dolby, Samsung, GLW, OLED
 
TCL (000100.CH) – $24.11B Sales - 2021
Broad-based Chinese CE company.  Appliances, TV, Smartphone, etc.  Owns  – Chinastar (pvt)
            
Oppo – (pvt)
Owned by BBK Electronics (pvt) who also owns Vivo (pvt), OnePlus (pvt), and iQOO (pvt).  Major Chinese smartphone brand.  Also produces other CE products. ~17,000 employees
 
Ximmerse (pvt)
Guangdong, China – Investors include Lenovo (), & Qualcomm (QCOM)
“Rhino” series of mixed reality devices.  Specializes in position and tracking.
 
Dream Glass (pvt)–
Fremont, CA.  Small VC backed AR Developer
 
Lenovo (992.HK)
Large Hong Kong based Chinese CE manufacturer best known for laptops. – $60.74B Sales – 2021
 
Engo (pvt)
Owned by MicroOled (pvt) – Producer of Micro-OLED displays and optical modules based in Grenoble, France.  Also promotes Activelook™ smart sport glasses.
 
Guangli (pvt)
Small Hangzhou, China based producer of AR glasses specifically designed for swimmers
 
Brilliant (pvt)
Owned by Brilliant Labs (pvt), a small NFP based in New Brunswick, Canada.  Product is an open platform monocle that can be used for educational purposes.
 
Nimo (pvt)
Milpitas, CA based (India really) company building AR glasses that are a substitute for a laptop or computer.
 
Campfire (pvt)
San Mateo, CA start-up that is focused on a collaborative AR platform that is currently oriented toward CAD and is built around an easy to use AR device that also converts to VR.
 
Rokid (pvt)
Hangzhou, China based AR developer that has released Ar devices each year since 2020 with a focus on sources that have a video output.  Investors include Bilibili (9626.HK), a major Chinese streaming service