For nearly a decade glasses-free 3D mobile phones have failed to entice consumers with just thirteen launched models. However, analysing the latest 3D adoptions by smartphone manufacturers, the 3D ecosystem and the market environment shows change is in the air.
1- Nine out of thirteen 3D enabled mobile phones have been launched within the last two years. Also, there are several rumours regarding 3D enabled smartphones such as iPhone 5 and HTC Ryder. In addition, recent investments on the mobile 3D industry such as Samsung’s $15 Million investment in the California based Masterimage, show that the manufacturers look at the 3D smartphones as the next big thing.
2- While adoption of 3D technology was quite successful on the large screens, it could not meet the expectations on 3D TVs due to the high price, lack of contents and need to wear 3D glasses. Smartphone manufacturers have tried to overcome these barriers in their industry. Firstly they tried to maintain the price at a reasonable level (For example: Around €500 for an unlocked LG Optimus 3D). Second by incorporating parallax barrier technology users do not need to wear glasses. Finally by adding stereoscopic camera, they have engaged users to enjoy the self-generated contents such as 3D photos and videos. Two different surveys suggested that taking photos ranked the third most popular smartphone usage behind making phone calls and sending SMS. So people might be interested in taking and viewing their 3D photos on their smartphones. Furthermore, the manufacturers have tried to provide 3D contents and cooperate with other companies and developers in this regards. It is obvious that providing some 3D contents such as games and applications is far easier in the smartphone industry than TV industry, based on their different ecosystem life cycle stages.
3- Apple can be the game changer. If the biggest smartphone maker in the world uses 3D display on its highly-anticipated iPhone 5, the whole industry may shake consequently. By leveraging its innovative brand image as a core competence, Apple will be able to attract new consumers alongside with the traditional iPhone fans who want to replace their older iPhones with a 3D enabled one. In this case other rivals such as Samsung are more likely to retaliate aggressively and the whole scenario will create an enormous demand for the glasses-free 3D smartphones and the relative components and the whole 3D ecosystem.
To conclude and with consideration of the market’s shifting away from feature phones toward smartphones globally, it can be said that the glasses-free 3D smartphone market will grow especially in the developed countries, where people are paying more to buy smartphones, more 3D contents are available and the whole 3D ecosystem is developing faster.
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