Tech
Samsung is ‘working out’ a roadmap for mixed reality devices as rumors of an Apple headset swirl
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Mixed reality has been touted as the next big shift in computing just as the smartphone was, hence companies from Meta to Microsoft are investing in it.
Mixed reality refers to technologies that blend the virtual and physical world. This could involve augmented reality where virtual images or video are overlaid onto the real world. Mixed reality apps and experiences could be accessed via headsets worn by a user.
Patrick Chomet, an executive vice president at Samsung Electronics, told CNBC in an interview that the company is “working out” a roadmap for mixed reality products. He declined to give specifics on when such a product could be released.
Chomet, who was speaking to CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, highlighted Samsung’s partnership with Alphabet’s Google and U.S. chip giant Qualcomm that was announced in February. The three companies gave very few details about what the partnership entails but said it would focus on mixed reality.
Qualcomm sells a series of chips called Snapdragon XR specifically designed for mixed reality products, such as headsets. Samsung has years of experience in hardware design. While Google’s strength lies in its Android operating system and developers who make apps for it.
Chomet said the partnership is not just about the three companies, however, but also designed grow the mixed reality market.
“The reason why we announced is, is beyond Qualcomm, Google and Samsung alone, we want to prepare the whole ecosystem. There will be many, many developers, content companies and app companies that will prepare innovation and experiences for that ecosystem,” Chomet said.
“Yes, we can do devices. Yes, Qualcomm can do chipsets, yep. Yes, Google can do OS [operating system]. But then in the end, we need more than that, to make a vibrant ecosystem.”
Competition from Apple, Meta
Samsung is no stranger to these virtual experiences. The company launched its first virtual reality headset in 2015 called the Gear VR. At the time it was built by Oculus, the company Facebook owns. Samsung discontinued the Gear VR in 2020 as the device failed to take off in a big way.
At the time, the product required a smartphone to be inserted into the headset. But electronics makers are moving away from this model and toward wireless headsets.
Samsung’s Chomet said that while virtual reality is good for gaming, “we believe there is more potential in some mixed reality … so we are going to advance the roadmap in that direction.”
Leo Gebbie, an analyst at CCS Insight, said some sort of “smart glasses would slot beautifully” into Samsung’s portfolio of devices from smartphones to watches.
“Alongside its smartphones, it already has wearable devices like the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Buds. All of these would be optimised to work together to deliver the best possible user experience, furthering the ecosystem tie-in that many big tech companies are so focused on today,” Gebbie said.
Tech
‘Inundated with requests’: Digital currency firms look to Swiss banks after crypto-friendly lenders fail
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Some of these companies have turned to crypto-friendly Swiss banks, flooding them with requests for banking services, according to multiple industry insiders who spoke to CNBC.
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Typically, the crypto industry has found it difficult to access banking services from traditional lenders, who don’t want to touch anything that does not have a clear regulatory framework. This has included blockchain and crypto firms, who have instead had to turn to specialist banks.
But with two of the biggest lenders, along with SVB, now out of the picture, cryptocurrency firms have turned to Switzerland, which has sought to market itself as a crypto hub with solid regulation.
“We have been inundated with requests,” said an advisor at a private Swiss bank, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
The advisor said on the Monday after Silvergate and Signature Bank’s winddown this month, the private lender had more requests in a single day than ever before.
“It is just nuts,” the advisor said.
U.S., non-Europe firms look to Switzerland
Dominic Castley, chief marketing officer at Sygnum, one of Switzerland’s biggest banks that is focused on servicing digital asset companies, said it is seeing an influx of enquiries.
“Over the past weeks as the current banking industry events have unfolded, we have seen a significant increase in onboarding enquiries from various international locations,” Castley said, adding that Sygnum’s location in both Switzerland and Singapore is attractive to companies.
Sygnum has a Swiss banking license and a capital markets services license in Singapore, bringing it under the purview of regulators.
One Switzerland-based advisor to financial technology companies, who also preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, said that has been “a lot more inflow from U.S. customers” to Swiss banks.
An executive at a European trading firm, meanwhile, said their company had been seeing “non-Europe based entities” making enquiries for new banking relationships. The executive, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the topic, said these firms include crypto-focused hedge funds and venture capital firms.
Castley said interest is “mainly coming from investors, asset managers and blockchain projects looking to diversify their crypto investments with a trusted Swiss partner like Sygnum Bank.”
Switzerland’s other major lender that deals with the digital assets industry — SEBA Bank — did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Switzerland’s crypto-friendly stance
Part of why companies are seeking out Swiss banks is the country’s regulation which is welcoming to cryptocurrency firms in need of a stable operating environment.
The country has created what locals dub “Crypto Valley” in the region of Zug, just outside the Swiss capital Zurich, where start-ups and more established digital currency firms have set up shop.
In 2021, the government introduced a regulation on companies using so-called “distributed electronic register technology” or blockchain, which originated with the cryptocurrency bitcoin but has since evolved.
Thierry Arys Ruiz, CEO of Swiss-based blockchain firm AgAu.io, said Switzerland is “more stable” and there is “more certainty to what the rules are.”
The anonymous advisor at the private Swiss bank said that companies are coming to Switzerland to be in a “safer jurisdiction” for crypto regulation.
Filming from Washington, D.C., Chew emphasized the large scale of TikTok users, small and medium-sized businesses and its own employees based in the U.S. that rely on the company. The message may preview his appeal to lawmakers Thursday, where he will be faced with questions about the ability of its Chinese parent company ByteDance, and the Chinese government, to access U.S. user information collected by the app.
TikTok says it has worked to create a risk mitigation plan to ensure that U.S. data doesn’t get into the hands of a foreign adversary through its app. The company has said U.S. user data is already stored outside of China.
But many lawmakers and intelligence officials seem to remain unconvinced that the information can be safe while TikTok is owned by a Chinese company. TikTok said last week that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which is reviewing risks related to the app, is pushing for ByteDance to sell its stake or face a ban.
Chew disclosed in the video that TikTok has more than 150 million monthly active users, or MAUs, in the U.S., representing massive growth from August 2020, when it said for the first time that it has about 100 million MAUs in the country. That number includes 5 million businesses that use the app to reach their customers, with most of those being small or medium-sized businesses. He also said TikTok has 7,000 U.S.-based employees.
“This comes at a pivotal moment for us,” Chew said, referencing lawmakers’ threats of a TikTok ban. “This could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”
Chew then appealed to users directly to share in the comments what they want their representatives to know about why they love TikTok.
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