Demystifying VR underground rivers and lakes: How do VR glasses cost a few dollars to ship?

In the past eight months, VR has been on the rise, and its development and expansion speed has not been expected in the technology circle, and even in the entire electronics industry. For a time, VR has become the new darling of the venture capital circle, the focus of the newspaper and the press conference, the frequent visitors of the financing list, and the scenery is no different.

In addition to strong capital and entrepreneurial entrepreneurs, there is still a hidden underground force that is helping the VR box makers in Shenzhen.

The author contacted the key supply chain people such as Foxconn and Longhua supply chain, Shenzhen VR foundry veterans, Shenzhen VR all-in-one brand manufacturers and other resources in the circle, and conducted in-depth dialogue and exchange around the current scale and development trend of VR OEM industry in Shenzhen; At the same time, with reference to authoritative report data such as Haitong Securities and iiMediaResearch, the company will exclusively sort out a VR hardware foundry supply chain map, and plan all kinds of hanging technology concepts packaging and aura to restore the lower VR hardware ecology. face.

"Mountain" mobile phone, another underground river and lake behind the bracelet

"The real amount is still in March of this year, and now it accounts for nearly 50% of the domestic market," said Zhang, a VR integrated machine solution and brand manufacturer in Shenzhen. Of course, he only refers to the mobile VR device of the mobile phone box type, and the shipment of the VR all-in-one is still flat.

Shenzhen's manufacturing companies are the most sensitive people in the category of consumer electronics. From the MTK mobile phone madness around 2008, to the Android cottage afterwards, to the “Millet Bracelet” products from 2014 to 2015, basically every wave of consumer electronics wave, Shenzhen manufacturers are rushing to the product. At the forefront of cheaper, mass shipments, the opportunity for this wave of VR boxes was also captured by them.

According to our incomplete statistics, the total number of VR box shipments from the original mobile phone and bracelets has reached tens of millions of units, and the lowest cost is a few dollars. How to do this is detailed later. .

The share of "50%" is not unusual for Shenzhen's developed hardware supply chain. In the first half of the Hong Kong Global Sources Electronics Show, China Electronics Show and other exhibitions, the public model of VR boxes abound, can already smell the "cottage" VR taste in Shenzhen; recently, in the communication between the author and VR entrepreneurs, "Shenzhen's "White" VR box is much larger than most of the licensed manufacturers on the market."

The mobile phone box, VR all-in-one, and PC version of the helmet are the mainstream VR hardware products at this stage. The PC version is limited to PC configuration requirements and is cumbersome to use. There are few manufacturers involved in China. The following is a discussion of mobile phone boxes and VR all-in-ones that differ in market acceptance.

Mobile phone box: in March, Huaqiang North accounted for half

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the mobile phone box has become the most mature category in the VR hardware industry, but it may need some evidence for the market share of the nearly half of the Huaqiangbei electronic shopping mall. After all, domestic brands such as Storm Sunglasses, 3Glass, and Ants have been deploying VR hardware since 2014. How did Huaqiang North, which began to take shape in March this year, come to the forefront?

Lao Zhang deconstructed the reasons behind us. First, "Huaqiang North has always been a low-priced king." After the Lunar New Year in March, consumers' enthusiasm for VR products increased greatly, and Huaqiang North Market began to stock up a lot. In addition, as the competition in various stores intensifies, the price of mobile phone boxes is constantly being compressed. "From the initial price of 50-60 yuan all the way down, until now the cheapest mobile phone box can be bought as long as 11 pieces," Lao Zhang said.

Although this price has approached the cost line of the mold factory, but relying on the local rich experience and resources, these wholesalers can still find the profit margin. "For example, choose a cheaper shell material, increase the order quantity, etc." In addition, Lao Zhang also vividly painted a small workshop style for Shenzhen. "The production line of the 20th and 30th people is two shifts. The production-to-assembly operation is completed in a factory, and the management is convenient, and the shipping speed is very strong."

At the same time as the low-price strategy is in full swing, the unit price of 20-30 yuan is stimulating more consumers to buy. On the way to the popularization of mobile phone box VR, Shenzhen cottage manufacturers have contributed. It should be noted that the mobile phone case mentioned here refers specifically to the version with a plastic outer casing. Due to the limited wearing of the carton-type VR box, it is impossible to effectively fix the mobile phone, which greatly affects the viewing effect. Even in the "cottage market", Huaqiang North has already encountered the situation of being eliminated.

Where are the cheap VR boxes sold?

If the price is a catalyst, the extensive and exclusive sales channel has become the unique advantage of Huaqiang North.

Huaqiang North, which is well-known every day, also attracts many middle/foreign traders. "If these foreign traders value the goods, it is very common to mention a few K items at a time," Zhang said.

In addition, as a toy gift, gift channel is also an important port of Huaqiang North, and these data are difficult to find in the e-commerce platform and accounts. According to Lao Zhang, some mobile phone dealers' offline stores usually purchase large quantities of VR mobile phone boxes and promote them as a bonus to mobile phones. More than 100 mobile phones may be sold with more than 500 sets of glasses. The purchase price is 10-20. The value is usually around 100-200 yuan.

"The mobile phone box can only be regarded as a toy, or a mobile phone accessory." Although he is in the industry, Lao Zhang still has a disdainful expression on his face. "It is a set of lenses plus a plastic case. thing". Despite this, the mobile phone box still plays an important role in terms of the latest JD sales data from the author and the overall trend of the VR market.

How to achieve a million scale?

We can also see the sales of several top-ranking home appliance stores through the data of e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Jingdong. The monthly sales record can see that the top few are in the tens of thousands, and the actual scale will be more than this. Because most manufacturers use their own brands, they will also disperse channels. The top ranking is only one of the main channels.

Another point is that the sales volume of own brand sales and OEM OEMs is different. The author knows from the top five vendors that their cumulative shipments are close to 3 million, mainly in the past. Completion within 5 months, count the other more advanced vendor data, conservatively see more than 10 million is no problem.

Some people may ask, can these ordinary brands of VR boxes be used by ordinary users? This involves the other side of the content. In fact, in the VR business circle, many players have begun to deploy VR video clients on mobile phones, such as orange VR, 3D broadcast, etc. These content distributors are happy to adapt these From the VR box in Shenzhen.

How to do it from 99 to a few dollars?

The cheapest version of the VR box should be considered a Google Cardboard, a paper box, and the cost is not enough. After that, a group of domestic startups launched a plastic product of about 99 yuan, which makes all consumers think that this is VR. The power, but in fact, this price can still be done much lower.

Let's talk about cost and quality. As far as the phone case is concerned, although the structure is simple, it still involves the lens and optical design. In order to save the cost of industrial design and mold opening, many merchants directly apply Huaqiang North's most common lens to directly draw and open the mold. "The selection of the lens directly determines the structural design of the mobile phone box. Most of the mobile phone boxes on the market now," Lao Zhang explained.

The randomness of design and production leads to the homogenization of the product, and the viewing experience is poor, and the net weight reaches 500-600g. According to Lao Zhang, based on similar designs, these mobile phone boxes are produced by the same set of molds, and the cost of the mobile phone box is usually around 100,000. The mold owner then sells it to the merchant through the production of the mobile phone box, and charges the fee. According to the data given by Foxconn personnel, the service life of the mold is usually around 300,000.

Excluding the proportion of Huaqiang North's larger share, according to Lao Zhang, the storm sunglasses that have been on sale for more than a year belong to the brands with large shipments, and conservatively estimate that they account for about 20% to 30% of the market share. "They claim that the sales of millions of units have also been questioned, but because the sales have been more than a year, and their experience is indeed better than the white-label manufacturers, so this data is basically credible," Lao Zhang analyzed.

One machine: a wave of homogenized products is about to hit

Compared with the mobile phone box, the integrated machine class and mode are relatively late, and the corresponding supply chain chain is more complicated. "We have already cooperated with about 20 brand manufacturers, and they will adopt our low-cost foundry solutions; it is foreseeable that the homogenization will be more obvious after the products are listed." Lao Zhang, who is a foundry OEM, said.

Lao Zhang’s company was previously engaged in traditional tablet OEMs. “In recent years, sales of tablet PCs have fallen sharply, which is among the earlier declines in 3C products. We started VR exploration when we were looking for new opportunities.” . Since the structure of the all-in-one machine is similar to that of a mobile phone, it is taken for granted that most of the new integrated machine manufacturers are transformed from mobile phone manufacturers, but according to Lao Zhang’s experience, it is not.

For OEMs of VR all-in-ones, traditional electronics OEMs will face three cross-industry barriers, including: a new light path design made up of lenses and screens, a head-mounted ergonomic design, and a heat sink that is different from mobile phones. design. "This is not as simple as putting a mobile phone in," Lao Zhang stressed.

In the course of more than a year of study and exploration, the Lao Zhang team has opened a total of 17 sets of molds to complete, and the final forming plan includes 26 major parts; in addition, the learning of the Gear VR prototype also brought us A lot of inspiration, I believe this is the same feeling for most all-in-one developers.

According to the Langhua supply chain staff, the cost of the screen occupies a large share in the all-in-one machine, and the OLED screen will become the standard for the VR all-in-one due to its viewing angle, refresh rate, response time, etc. The cost is 20 -30 dollars / block or so.

The solution given by the old Zhang team uses the domestic Rockchip RK3288 chip, and at the same time, it cooperates with the chip manufacturer to develop VR matching landing. Although it can't be compared with big brand manufacturers in terms of configuration, Lao Zhang emphasizes that this is a more cost-effective and mass production capability. In the cooperation of the foundry program, the Lao Zhang team provided three types of standardization programs:

1. OEM design: The complete set of solutions such as optical system, hardware configuration including chip and CPU, and structural design are issued to the manufacturer, providing the main board; providing corresponding supply chain channels and mold resources.

2, OEM: This type of customer orders are usually small, in the hundreds of units, direct orders placed; the old Zhang team to provide complete products, customer manufacturers and then put their own brand.

3. OEM production: The customer manufacturer provides the nesting and parts to the Lao Zhang team, and then the Lao Zhang team is responsible for the subsequent design and production.

"In the past, Shenzhen cottage manufacturers had 25 days to complete the record from zero to shipment, and many people did not believe it." Zhang Zhang joked that it is easy to understand the application of this model. The VR all-in-one OEM model mentioned above is also based on the general-purpose foundry scheme in Shenzhen.

OEM and autonomy face the same problem

From the above-mentioned industry insiders who know this Shenzhen VR hardware underground lake, it must be said that the current market is floating on the water is only a section of the market, really changing and promoting the early popularization of VR equipment, Shenzhen's foundry is Play a huge role.

On the other hand, the proliferation of such products has also made the experience and quality of early VR hardware very different, but this is the practice in Shenzhen, making quick money and speed.

For the VR industry, there is still no benchmarking mass production brand, and everyone is still in the exploration stage. But what is certain is that both the brand manufacturer and the gameplay of the foundry plan are facing the same problem. How to balance performance and price? From the latest Jingdong 6.18 sales data, the user's purchasing tendency is still concentrated in the mobile phone box of about 100 yuan. Although the performance and experience of the all-in-one machine has improved, the price of thousands of yuan still keeps a large number of consumers out of the door. .

On the other hand, the VR all-in-one manufacturers that have been released on the market are equipped with star chips, OLED screens, and high-performance processing kits. However, I know that there are very few mass-produced shipments. Before that, perhaps the popularity and efforts of these obscure small-scale OEMs are still indispensable.

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