AR vs VR, What's What? is AR & VR the Future?

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Today’s Highlights:

• Online-Car Retailer Carvana’s Shares Turn Round and Round 🚗

• AR vs. VR, What’s What? 👓🎧

Online-Car Retailer Carvana Goes Through a Rollercoaster of Shares

Carvana is an online-car retailer founded in 2013. When it first launched, Carvana offered consumer-friendly technology and 360-degree interior and exterior views of its inventory. According to co-founder Ernie Garcia III, it removed overhead costs usually required by traditional dealerships.

In 2015, Carvana created multi-story physical “car vending machines” retail spaces. After a few years, it raised funds from equity and debt financing and bought a couple of startups, namely Car360 and Adesa. Sadly, Carvana became and remained a deeply indebted company.

The Ups and Downs of Carvana

Carvana, with stock prices as high as $360 in 2021, has been experiencing a decline in shares, even reaching single digits. Just last Thursday, Carvana’s shares were up at $25 after a profit update but declined again to $19.07 a couple of days ago. It has, however, slightly increased to $21.26 at the moment.

Carvana’s profitability has been less than steady. Wall Street analysts expect Carvana to report revenues of $2.57 billion in Q2 and $2.64 billion in Q3. Compared to 2022, with $3.88 billion in Q2 and $3.39 billion in Q3 revenue, Carvana has been performing quite poorly. Carvana’s long-term debt of more than $6.5 billion does not help its case.

It is hoped that Carvana can create and maintain better per-sale profitability and improve its adjusted profits in the coming future.

Despite Carvana’s rollercoaster ride, the online car-buying market is far from falling. Opportunities may arise for entrepreneurs and professionals interested in the industry, and it might be worth a shot.

AR vs VR, What’s What?

With the planned release of Apple’s AR/VR headset, Apple Vision Pro, early next year, it’s evident that the AR/VR buzz isn’t going away anytime soon.

AR and VR can be similar in design, and these terms are often used simultaneously, possibly giving the impression that they are interchangeable. This is untrue, however. In reality, there are plenty of differences between them.

What are AR and VR?

These two modern techs have become increasingly popular. With plentiful technological advancements, AR and VR are quite rapidly transforming the way people interact with the world, but what are they exactly?

Augmented Reality (AR), as the name implies, simply augments your reality. It “improves” and changes your surroundings by reflecting digital components in the real world, enhancing the two.

AR often only needs the camera on your smartphone or desktop. Special devices, like the Smart Glasses, however, can also be used for the ultimate experience. These AR glasses enhance your reality with a digital projection of information attached to wearable lenses.

Virtual Reality (VR), on the other hand, provides a completely new simulated reality and experience for its users. The real world you’re standing in is replaced by a virtual one you can explore.

VR can usually be done with a simple holder attached to your phone, connecting the user and a screen with two lenses. Special VR headsets that contain embedded stereoscopic lenses, rendering LED screens in 3D, are becoming much more common, though.

Industry Applications

In 2023, there are about 171 million VR users worldwide, with 65.9 million of them in the U.S. About 110.1 million American citizens use AR. You might be thinking, that is a great deal of consumption. What are they using AR/VR for?

One of the simplest examples of AR and VR industry applications is the gaming industry. You see AR in mobile games like Ingress, The Walking Dead: Our World, Pokémon Go, and Jurassic World Alive. These games provide users with virtual elements related to each media and incorporate them into the real world.

VR is quite dominating in the gaming industry, too, with advanced hardware like Oculus VR, Steam VR, PSVR, and games like Resident Evil Village, Dino Frontier, and Star Wars Squadrons.

Additionally, AR and VR technology are used in the retail industry, incorporated into store catalog apps, for example. This is seen from IKEA’s The Place App, which allows consumers to visualize what different products would look like in their homes.

AR and VR also benefit the healthcare industry. AR apps have been made for medical professionals to learn and train with highly detailed 3D images of different body systems. VR spaces allow surgeons to perform mock surgeries in virtual space, eliminating practical skill deficiency.

The Future of AR and VR

Reports speculating about the future of AR and VR’s global market have been found, one of them coming from Fortune Business Insights.

More members of the healthcare industry are taking advantage of AR, VR, and Mixed Reality (MR) for medical applications. According to Fortune Business Insights, the VR market in healthcare is expected to grow to $25.22 billion by 2030.

The gaming industry has significantly dominated the AR & VR market. Primarily driven by gamers adopting advanced VR hardware, accessories, and a number of companies creating innovative software and content, a market of $53.44 is expected by 2028.

It has become apparent that the future of AR, VR, and MR is big and bright. Constantly growing, this tech doesn’t sound too bad for professionals and entrepreneurs looking for something to work on.

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