Big Tech's Continued Efforts on AR/VR Technology

A bright spotlight has been directed to AR/VR technology for quite some time now, with fluctuating demand driven by factors such as hardware accessibility in terms of pricing and availability, advancements and innovation in technology, as well as mere preferences.

VR tech was met with immense excitement due to its pioneering potential and saw niche success in industries such as gaming, fitness, and enterprise. However, expensive and chunky hardware, as well as many experiencing significant issues such as severe motion sickness, caused a dip in demand.

Moving more slowly but steadily, the rise of AR was met with more acceptance, as their applications are seamlessly integrated into everyday tech, used mostly in education, tourism, and healthcare, though privacy implications have become a cause for concern in the context of widespread adoption.

Despite the uncertainties that live within the field of AR/VR, Big Tech companies such as Apple and Meta continue to spend billions of dollars on developing AR/VR, presumably to keep the market in their grasp, making the question of whether the tech will stay big come to light.

Meta’s Productions

The creation of Metaverse and its introduction to society spiked people’s curiosity and expectations towards AR/VR, a form of tech that was to become the next technological breakthrough.

Developed by Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who had big dreams of creating a future that blends the digital and physical, Metaverse faced initial success, with architects and tech enthusiasts actively participating in Metaverse’s creative social space, Horizon Worlds. Come time, however, its popularity dropped, with minimal visits and pocket-sized global revenue.

This failure didn’t stop Zuckerberg from pursuing ambitious VR-related projects, though, as shown by Meta’s continued efforts to develop VR headsets. After releasing headsets prior to Metaverse, namely Meta Quest 1 as well as Meta Quest 2, the headsets used for a fully immersive Metaverse experience, Meta launched a third edition.

The Meta Quest 3 VR headsets, which debuted last October, took the lead in 2023’s VR market and caused a spike in sales from October until November, though it didn’t help all that much in improving the tech’s overall market throughout the year. According to research firm Circana, sales of VR headsets and AR glasses dropped quite significantly from $1.1B at the end of 2022 to only $664M as of November 2023.

While we can imagine the fun VR technology can bring, an increasing number of individuals saw less of a point in utilizing VR. It is speculated that the fall in demand was caused by the unaffordability of headsets in times of financial crisis, with most households having to spend funds on more essential goods.

The value of VR headsets is also seen in their usage, only having limited consumers, mainly in the gaming industry, as it is simply a cool thing to have that provides immersion in consuming video games and movies but is not exactly a necessary need for most.

Apple’s Way

Aside from Meta, Apple has also permeated the AR/VR wall with its June unveiling of the Apple Vision Pro, a mixed-reality headset that allows Apple users to interact with digital content in their physical space.

Said to be released in 2024, trend analysts predict a spike in AR/VR sales due to the ever-enthusiastic VR and Apple fanbase. With a starting price of $3499, many predict Apple’s target market to be early adopters, developers, and companies that find AR/VR essential in their line of work.

While the high price Apple has set makes widespread adoption doubtful, IDC research director Ramon Llamas speculates that the Apple Vision Pro release will instead push other companies to compete. This hypothesis may prove to be true, as tech companies Xreal and Rokid are developing lower-cost tethered headsets that might just boost the AR market in 2024.

AR/VR Halt

It is very likely that augmented reality will someday become more versatile than VR. It is established that the former’s hardware, which can come in the form of simple glasses, tends to be less chunky and clunky than the latter’s headsets. In addition to that, unlike VR, AR tech can exist solely as software applications, and in that way possibly costing less for consumers that do not wish to own AR hardware.

This ticks off AR, or at least non-hardware-based AR’s, superiority box in convenience and affordability. More and more companies in various industries, such as retail, interior design, and education, have utilized smartphone-based AR mainly for visualization purposes that allow a more immersive experience.

Though influenced by several factors, one significant issue faced in the field of AR is the cost of building AR products, especially for creators working on highly ambitious projects. A company that has fallen victim to AR costs and ambition is Mojo Vision, a tech company that had to pivot from developing AR contact lenses to building semiconductor chips.

From what we’ve seen in the AR/VR landscape so far, it is nearly impossible for the tech’s market to disappear into thin air, with leading contenders of industries supporting AR/VR sales being gaming, enterprise, and education.

Though there is no determined answer to the question of whether AR/VR will turn small or stay big, one can rely on existing trends to predict what may come. From the lack of necessity and accessibility of AR/VR tech at the moment, widespread adoption in the near future seems unlikely.

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