Apple vs Samsung - Battle of the extended reality headsets

Abraham George Musings

The first iPhone was introduced to the world on Jan 9, 2007. Since then it improved the fortunes of Apple as a company more than any of its other products and changed the way many people functioned as well. The iPhone could get rid of many of our other daily utility instruments and incorporate them into the phone. That includes the watch, torchlight, fax machine, scanners, reading books, radio, calculator, movies, camera, and many more. The applications that we could download to monitor our health, weather, flight schedules, bank accounts, payments, etc are countless. It is all this that took Apple to a $3 trillion company at one point. While its market cap is a lot less than its all-time high it is still the most valuable company in the world.

Most of these were copied by Apple’s competitors as well but out of all of them Samsung emerged as its main competitor and it still is. In some areas, Samsung provided an easy and earlier introduction and they have been in a constant race to win market share.

Apple’s camera has improved and perfected so much that they are a threat to professional camera makers. How much more can these two companies do to improve the quality of our lives and incorporate all into one small device?

One major launch that Apple is gearing up for this year is its extended reality (XR) headset. It is going to be Apple’s first big move into the augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR) space.

These products will become the next wave of mass-market consumer electronics and probably the beginning of the end of the age of the smartphone. Augmented reality could be the next platform for human-computer interfaces.

These products could become part of the next big wave of mass-market consumer electronics. While Apple leads this space with its perfection in details, brand, and snob value Samsung is equally catching up with lower prices. When it comes to consumer electronics Apple is the equivalent of Louis Vuitton in fashion. But from a utility standpoint, Samsung is very much up there with Apple.

Samsung also very recently revealed its plans for an extended reality device. For that, they are partnering with some heavyweights to compete with Apple. They include Google, Qualcomm, Meta, and Microsoft.

While Google makes the Android OS software that runs on all Samsung’s smartphones, looks like Samsung will take support from Google for its AR operating system as well.

Qualcomm produces the semiconductors that go into Samsung’s smartphones. Qualcomm also produces chips that drive augmented reality. So Samsung could be using them for their AR headset.

Then there is Meta with the largest social media network in the world. Through Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Meta will be out there to produce extended reality versions of these apps to run on Samsung’s AR device.

Add to all this Microsoft very recently gave up all their plans to be a force in the AR space. It has stopped work on its HoloLens headset completely as they are more focused on the Artificial Intelligence space, especially with its collaborations with OpenAI.

Samsung could incorporate some of Microsoft’s gaming applications into their new hardware. Samsung may be even looking to leverage some of Microsoft’s Intellectual property (IP) related to AR/VR technology.

Apple and Samsung will be head to head with this technology obviously Samsung at a lower price and there is a major reason they both are banking on this new product.

Smartphone sales have been lagging overall. This has a lot to do with consumers not upgrading their phones that frequently. This trend is prevalent as the upgrading only provided some marginal benefits. With this new move in AR/VR consumers should be sufficiently incentivized, especially with 5G becoming ubiquitous, consumer experiences should also be at their best.

But whatever it is Samsung is up for the challenge with Apple and both see opportunities in their sagging sales projections.

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Abraham George is a seasoned investment manager with more than 40 years of experience in trading & investment and multi-billion dollar portfolio management spanning diverse environments like banks (HSBC, ADCB), sovereign wealth fund (ADIA), a royal family office, and a hedge fund.