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Chinese start-up counts on Apple’s Vision Pro headset to boost adoption of extended reality

  • GDI claims itself as one of the earliest Chinese virtual-reality companies and the maker of one of the country’s most popular VR engines
  • With Apple on track to launch its Vision Pro headset next year, GDI founder Denny Zhou thinks the world is ready to embrace XR

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Shanghai-based start-up GDI focuses on extended-reality hardware and software solutions. Photo: Handout
Ann Caoin Shanghai
Apple’s Vision Pro headset is set to unleash the potential of similar products and benefit smaller players in the industry, according to the founder and chairman of a Chinese extended-reality (XR) start-up, which has been working on related technology for over a decade.
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“Sixteen years ago, when I was still a programmer and decided to start my own business, most people didn’t know that the virtual-reality (VR) industry existed,” said Denny Zhou Qinghui of Shanghai Graphic Design Information Co (GDI).

“Over the past few years, we have seen many opportunities and progress in XR, especially after big companies like Apple joined, which gave us a lot of confidence.”

Those remarks by Zhou, who spoke to reporters in Shanghai on Thursday, came after Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed at a product launch event on Tuesday that its mixed-reality (MR) device, announced in June, was on track to ship in the US early next year.

MR, which allows users to interact with both physical and digital objects at the same time, makes up a group of technologies known as XR, along with VR and augmented reality.

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Initial demonstrations of Apple’s Vision Pro impressed many industry players, including some in China, and inspired renewed enthusiasm in the field.
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