Virtual & Augmented Reality For Dummies

Chapter 13

Assessing the Future of Augmented Reality

IN THIS CHAPTER

Evaluating augmented reality’s upcoming market

Looking for augmented reality’s “killer app”

Predicting the impact of future updates

Whereas virtual reality (VR) is quickly driving toward the second generation of consumer devices, with many second-generation devices seeing a release in 2018 and 2019, most augmented reality (AR) hardware devices have yet to see a first-generation mass consumer release. Many devices still release in “developer preview” mode, with devices targeted to developers to ensure that a market is created before releasing to consumers. And some companies are currently only taking preorders for their yet-released AR hardware.

We won’t be able to accurately assess AR’s potential hardware adoption until AR headsets begin to see larger-scale rollouts and consumer releases. In fact, AR headset manufacturers themselves likely are still studying just what a mass consumer rollout of AR hardware could look like.

In this chapter, I use what we do know to determine what AR might look like in the future. With much of AR still existing in the “hype” phase, I look to see if that hype is justified and try ...