According to industry experts, Apple is constantly falling behind while its biggest threat is no longer Samsung or Google.
This year, Apple has stepped out of its “comfort zone,” which includes the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The Cupertino-based company has released the Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence glasses; its first foray into the realm of mixed reality headsets and artificial intelligence.
Illustration photo.
And at least for Apple Intelligence, this is a rushed project to try to keep up with AI trends and please its investors.
For the Apple Vision Pro, the "Apple House" has been more delayed because Meta now has a firm grip on the market with its more affordable and much more complete Quest headsets - Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3.
Yet Apple is the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than $3 trillion. Its smartphones sell well. But what if smartphones don’t last forever, and if smartphone competitors like Google and Samsung are no longer Apple’s biggest long-term threat?
Apple's real "competitor" is Meta, not Google and Samsung
In the context of the consumer tech industry, Meta (formerly Facebook) is not much of a buzzword. Tech enthusiasts usually think of Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, Xiaomi, etc.
But Meta has been investing in future tech for years now. The company has developed AI, mixed reality headsets, its own operating system for them, based on Android, and now it has shown the world its vision of the future – the Meta Orion glasses.
Apple Vision Pro Glasses.
These glasses have all the modern trends—AI, mixed reality features, and the potential for smartphone features—all on your face, in the form of slightly thicker sunglasses. In the future, they'll be thinner, have more features, and be more widely available.
According to experts, smartphones will not last forever.
Certainly, in about 10 years, mixed reality will become a common product for everyone. Eventually, artificial intelligence and all the smartphone features used on a daily basis will be integrated into glasses. Mixed reality will replace smartphones - saving users from having to hold and stare at them.
Unfortunately, Apple has been quite slow in developing its own mixed reality operating system (realityOS, based on iPadOS) and introducing a headset (Apple Vision Pro).
Additionally, the company has yet to release Apple Intelligence, leaving Vision Pro users disappointed.
Not to mention that this pair of glasses doesn't have many applications, and the price is too expensive. And according to the latest sources, iFan won't have a cheaper successor to Vision Pro until 2027, the company will only release a slightly revised version in 2025 with an M5 processor instead of the M2.
If it wants to keep its throne, Apple must be faster.
In short:
- Meta has dominated the mixed reality market for years, Apple just entered with a very expensive headset but lacked apps and experiences
- Meta developed its own mixed reality operating system (Meta Horizon OS) a while ago and even recently opened the source code for other companies to use and customize, making it the Android of the mixed reality world
- Meta has had its own AI for a while, Apple has only just released ChatGPT powered AI in some regions, to a limited number of users
- Meta has introduced standalone smart glasses (Meta Orion) and plans to produce future versions that are cheaper and more popular
- Smartphones won't last forever and smart glasses are likely to be their successor
