Soochow Securities Co., Ltd.: Meta Orion prototype released, optimistic about the development trend of AI+AR

According to the report released by Soochow Securities Co., Ltd., Meta Orion smart glasses made a stunning debut, indicating Meta's active layout in the AR field, with the possibility of launching AR products with lower costs for consumers in the future. In addition, the company released the Llama3.2 multimodal large model to empower all Meta products. According to IDC data, the global shipment of AR devices is expected to increase by 63.5% to 500,000 units in 2023, and is projected to reach 845,000 units in 2024. The success of Ray-Ban Meta proves the feasibility of smart glasses products becoming AI terminal landing scenarios. The lightweight appearance and excellent performance of Orion AR glasses lead the future development direction of AR glasses, showing optimism for the long-term development space of AI+AR glasses.

Meta Orion smart glasses make a stunning debut, leading the industry in AR experience: Meta unveiled its first AR glasses prototype, codenamed Orion, at the Meta Connect conference in 2024. Orion consists of three parts: the glasses body, electromyography wristband (EMG), and external computing module. Orion glasses use SiC lenses + etched diffractive waveguides and Micro LED optical solutions, achieving a FOV of 70 degrees, the largest field of view for small AR glasses currently. The glasses weigh only 98g, use a magnesium frame, and are equipped with 7 cameras. Orion supports AI voice, gesture tracking, eye tracking, and allows users to control it through neural signals using the EMG wristband. Users can wear the glasses to open multiple Meta Horizon App windows for multitasking, or use Meta AI to identify and annotate real-world objects. As Meta's first AR glasses, the current Orion glasses are only used for demonstration and internal development kit purposes. With Meta's active layout in the AR field, there is a possibility of launching AR products with lower costs for consumers in the future.

Meta Quest3S offers high cost performance, Ray-Ban Meta continues to optimize: At the conference, Meta also launched the entry-level VR headset Quest3S, starting at $299.99. The camera (2 RGB + 4 IR) and chip (XR2Gen2) configurations have been upgraded to be consistent with Quest3, with the main difference being in the design shape and slightly narrower field of view. The price of Quest3S has decreased by $200 compared to Quest3, mainly due to the cost reduction from replacing the Pancake module with Fresnel lenses. In addition, the functionality of the Ray-Ban Meta series AI glasses continues to be optimized with the support of the large model. At the same time, Ray-Ban Meta collaborates with the "Be My Eyes" app, allowing visually impaired individuals to ask the smart glasses about objects in front of them and receive descriptions from AI.

Release of Llama3.2 multimodal large model, Meta AI empowers all Meta products: Meta has released the new multimodal large model Llama3.2. Llama3.2 includes two parameter specifications of visual large language models, 90B and 11B, as well as lightweight pure text models of 1B and 3B that can run locally on devices Meta AI will use the latest open-source Llama3.2 multimodal large model, which will be integrated into all Meta products and provide users with unlimited access. With the new capabilities of Llama3.2, terminal devices equipped with large models have a wider range of practical applications.

AI+AR Glasses will be the trend of industrial development: According to IDC data, the global shipment of AR devices is expected to increase by 63.5% to 500,000 units in 2023, and is projected to reach 845,000 units in 2024, an 85.6% year-on-year growth, far exceeding other XR products. Under the empowerment of AI, AR glasses not only greatly enhance interaction capabilities, making them more intelligent and user-friendly, but also expand the application scenarios of AR glasses. The success of Ray-Ban Meta proves the feasibility of intelligent glasses products as landing scenarios for AI terminals. The lightweight appearance and excellent performance of Orion AR glasses lead the future development direction of AR glasses, showing confidence in the long-term development space of AI+AR glasses.

Investment advice: It is recommended to pay attention to companies representing ODM and acoustic links such as GoerTek (002241.SZ); companies representing ODM links such as Longqi Technology (603341.SH), Huaqin Technology (688596.SH), Yidao Information (301139.SZ); optical links recommend focusing on Crystal Optoelectronics (002273.SZ), Lantec Optics (688127.SH); SoC and storage links recommend focusing on Hengxuan Technology (688698.SH), Baiwei Storage (688525.SH); terminal brand links recommend focusing on Skyworth Digital (000810.SZ), Doctor Glasses (300622.SZ), etc.

Risk warning: The expansion of application scenarios for glasses products may not meet expectations; downstream demand may not meet expectations