Thanks in no small part to the arrival of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and controversial text-to-video tools like OpenAI’s Sora, VR is once again making headlines in 2024 – but not every consumer electronics brand is cashing in on the hype.
Chinese mobile maker Honor, for its part, is committed to utilizing key AR and VR features in its smartphones, tablets, and laptops, but the company’s CEO, George Zhao, believes that full-blown mixed reality products have a way to go before becoming commercially viable.
“30 or 40 years ago, when I saw the first 3D movie, I really did believe that VR was the future. The impact was fantastic, “ Zhao said in a press conference at MWC 2024. “But today [...] to be frank, I still haven't found any [commercial VR] product that satisfies my requirements. They do not meet my target, not even Apple Vision Pro. The eye-tracking interaction [is impressive], and from an efficiency point of view, they [Apple] have improved a lot, but [VR] still needs improvement.
“I have imagined a VR future many, many times,” Zhao added. “I really love [the idea of] that future. But we are still working hard to meet all user requirements [in existing product categories].”
Zhao caveated his statement with confirmation that Honor does indeed have a team of employees committed to studying “key mixed reality technology,” but it’s clear that a bona fide Honor mixed reality headset is low on the company’s development agenda.
That’s not to say Honor isn’t innovating in other ways. As mentioned, Zhao has expressed his commitment to implementing experience-enhancing technologies on Honor’s traditional consumer products, and that philosophy is no more apparent than in the brand’s newly released Honor Magic 6 Pro flagship.
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Announced at MWC 2024 alongside the Honor Pad 9 and Honor Magic Book Pro 16, the Magic 6 Pro boasts the usual smorgasbord of impressive hardware specs and some neat new eye-tracking technology that lets you navigate the phone using nothing but your vision.
Of course, the Apple Vision Pro relies upon similar eye-tracking technology – and Zhao is clearly a fan of Apple's efforts here – but it’s also clear that Honor would rather take a step-by-step approach to VR-style smartphone navigation than push full steam ahead with an entirely new product category.
In other words, don't expect to see an Honor Vision Pro anytime soon.
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