Meta-Samsung?
According to local Korean media, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft (MSFT) have been working on a joint development AR (Augmented Reality) project since the summer that is expected to run for two years, resulting in a commercial product in 2024. The development project is based on Microsoft’s HoloLens™, an AR headset that Microsoft released in 2016 to developers. The headset uses Microsoft’s Kinect™ tracking technology, originally developed for the Xbox. The HoloLens 2 is the current version.
Samsung is said to be using the resources of Samsung Display (pvt), Samsung SDI (006400.KS), and Samsung Electro-Mechanics for the project and is likely contributing its expertise in waveguides, which are used in AR to move the light from small projectors to the user’s eye. Given that the projected image is small and quite close to the user’s eye, the waveguide can help to expand the FOV (Field of View) to a more natural 40®+, from what was just above 12® in early AR devices. Samsung has made a number of investments in California based DigiLens (pvt), a producer of such waveguides, along with a number of other prominent strategic investors such as Sony (SNE), Universal Display (OLED), and Dolby (DLB).
While Samsung’s involvement in the project is likely related to hardware and the waveguide module, Samsung itself has not had success with its own VR device, Gear VR, which was released in 2015 in cooperation with Oculus (FB) and was paired with a number of Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Unfortunately the device was not well received, despite about 5m being sold, and Samsung terminated user accounts and support in 2020 although Oculus continues to support the application. Estimates are that Microsoft has sold ~200,000 Hololens 2 systems this year, which sell for between $3,500 and $5,200 depending on the configuration.
While talk of the Metaverse has resulted in a renewed interest in AR/VR, the HoloLens is not designed for what might be considered casual use. The target market for such a device is oriented toward industrial use. As a mixed reality device, it allows the user to see both the item being worked on and an overlay of almost any kind of detail possible, ranging from schematics to replacement parts that the user can manipulate as if it were part of the physical item being worked on. The typical use would be similar to Fig. 2, where the maintenance person is able to look at and manipulate an image of the device being repaired to better understand how a part might be replaced. For anyone who has watched a household appliance repairman call to get a page from a manual sent to his phone in order to figure out a problem, the ability to not have to stop a repair to page through books and lists is an absolute time-saver.
Samsung is said to be using the resources of Samsung Display (pvt), Samsung SDI (006400.KS), and Samsung Electro-Mechanics for the project and is likely contributing its expertise in waveguides, which are used in AR to move the light from small projectors to the user’s eye. Given that the projected image is small and quite close to the user’s eye, the waveguide can help to expand the FOV (Field of View) to a more natural 40®+, from what was just above 12® in early AR devices. Samsung has made a number of investments in California based DigiLens (pvt), a producer of such waveguides, along with a number of other prominent strategic investors such as Sony (SNE), Universal Display (OLED), and Dolby (DLB).
While Samsung’s involvement in the project is likely related to hardware and the waveguide module, Samsung itself has not had success with its own VR device, Gear VR, which was released in 2015 in cooperation with Oculus (FB) and was paired with a number of Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Unfortunately the device was not well received, despite about 5m being sold, and Samsung terminated user accounts and support in 2020 although Oculus continues to support the application. Estimates are that Microsoft has sold ~200,000 Hololens 2 systems this year, which sell for between $3,500 and $5,200 depending on the configuration.
While talk of the Metaverse has resulted in a renewed interest in AR/VR, the HoloLens is not designed for what might be considered casual use. The target market for such a device is oriented toward industrial use. As a mixed reality device, it allows the user to see both the item being worked on and an overlay of almost any kind of detail possible, ranging from schematics to replacement parts that the user can manipulate as if it were part of the physical item being worked on. The typical use would be similar to Fig. 2, where the maintenance person is able to look at and manipulate an image of the device being repaired to better understand how a part might be replaced. For anyone who has watched a household appliance repairman call to get a page from a manual sent to his phone in order to figure out a problem, the ability to not have to stop a repair to page through books and lists is an absolute time-saver.
Hololens 2 in operation - Source: Microsoft
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