During the 5G: Connecting Virtual and Reality session at MWC22 Barcelona, Huawei Carrier BG’s Chief Marketing Officer Philip Song delivered the keynote speech: “5G+XR: Bringing Imagination into Reality”. In it, he shared insights into the XR industry and revealed the industry’s “new Moore’s Law”. He called on carriers and industry partners to take actions to seize the opportunities presented by 5G+XR.
At the event, Song introduced how Huawei held VR-enabled annual meetings and uses AR to assist with 5G base station delivery. Huawei and third-party data shows that the XR market will generate US$1.5 trillion in GDP by 2030, which is roughly equivalent to the current 5G market.
Comparing the XR industry’s progress to how the smartphone industry developed, Song said many vendors are now offering XR devices for under US$300, making the technology more affordable while still offering next-gen user experiences. XR development tools are being increasingly adopted. The new OPEN XR standard is now supported by almost every major hardware, platform, and engine company, making multi-platform deployment possible without multiple rounds of development.
What is more noteworthy is that a number of global XR pioneer carriers have made commercial breakthroughs in recent years. Carriers in countries like South Korea, Thailand, and China have led the deployment of VR/AR services and gained significant returns through three steps: selecting industries, setting business models, and developing capabilities. A carrier said, “If XR was launched three months later, it might take three years to catch up.”
At the event, Huawei revealed a “new Moore’s Law” for the XR industry to guide capability expansion for carriers and industry partners.
- Traffic demands for popular XR content double every 18 to 24 months. In the next 2 to 4 years, high frame rate 12K or even 24K XR content will become more common. This kind of premium content will consume network bandwidth and cloud resources at an exponential pace.
- Cloud service capabilities also double every 18–24 months to significantly reduce the production costs of XR content. Huawei’s Cloud XR service is a prime example of how this kind of expansion can be achieved. Through Cloud XR, Huawei has made available multiple cloud-based capabilities like large-scale 3D mapping, all-scenario adaptive spatial computing, and digital human rendering with precision hair models that allow for up to 100,000 strands of hair.
- This new Moore’s Law is designed to guide innovation within the XR industry and to build a foundation for XR development. Huawei itself has been following the guideline. In terms of XR devices, Huawei launched its next-generation, innovative AR-HUD, expanding XR applications. In terms of XR data transmission, Huawei presented innovative solutions such as 5G Massive MIMO and FTTR. The company has publicly committed to supporting a “Gigaverse” that provides ubiquitous gigabit access to support XR experiences anytime, anywhere. Huawei also launched its “Cloud-network Express” solution to help XR industry partners quickly access multiple clouds and use cloud-based development and rendering capabilities.
As he closed out his presentation, Song called on industry partners to work together in line with the “new Moore’s Law” and seize this great development opportunity for the XR industry, saying “Let’s act now to win the future.”