Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies have been forecast to take off for some time now, but sales and shipment figures have trailed behind expectations. While 2016 was supposed to be a banner year for VR and AR, CCS Insight recently noted that around 1.2 million VR headsets were sold last year against the firm’s original forecast of 2 million. AR figures were even worse, with just around 100,000 units sold in 2016. But that doesn’t mean interest isn’t there.
New data from an ABI Research survey of 445 U.S.-based companies across nine vertical markets shows three-quarters are interested in future implementations of AR.
While overall adoption is still pithy – with around 25 percent of respondents noting they’ve already taken up the technology – ABI says some markets have moved quicker than the average. Manufacturing respondents in particular indicated an increased pace of adoption, with more than 40 percent of respondents stating they’re using smart glasses. ABI indicates manufacturing is expected to make up nearly 20 percent of the entire AR market through 2021.
“Industry verticals are served best in today’s relatively young AR market, and this early adoption is critical for later adoption as use case potential expands and device capability grows concurrently,” ABI Research Principal Analyst Eric Abbruzzese comments. “A confluence of factors, built on top of an early enterprise foundation, spurs future growth: more capable mixed reality devices reaching the market, mobile augmented and mixed reality application growth, and more established content development tools and ecosystems pushing content to these devices. Although today familiarity and active usage is low overall, we now see the beginnings of growth.”
ABI analysts predict growth in the AR segment will ramp up in 2018 and 2019.
“True AR scale will be seen in the next one to two years, with a greater foundation for growth in enterprise and compelling consumer products coming to market,” Abbruzzese adds.
ABI’s forecast jibes well with CCS Insight’s own prediction that the first significant AR sales will come in 2019. CCS said AR sales will hit 1.5 million that year, and grow to 5 million in 2021 with a total market value of $2.5 billion.
