Virtual Reality Innovation Impact

Virtual Reality can be about more than seeing and hearing - it can also include FEELING - which we call "Haptics" Now usually this is achieved using special Haptic Gloves which create the illusion of pressure on the wearers' fingertips and resistance to their grip. There are even full body suits and rigs for total immersion. However thus far these are either cumbersome, expensive or both, ruling out many users from these more physical experiences. However, systems like the one shown use technologies like ultrasonic fields (basically high frequency, high intensity soundwaves) to "beam" the shape of virtual objects into the air, creating the illusion of touch without any need for gloves or other peripherals. Over the years I've tried several of these systems, and they have progressed from beaming vague inpressions of very small, basic shapes to providing everything from movement to texture and even temperature (imagine being able to feel the difference between a cold glass of water and a hot clay mug of coffee - when neither are really there at all?) If you've ever woken up having slept on your arm and tried to make your morning tea with a numb hand, you'll know the importance of being able to feel what you're doing. Perhaps this form of Virtual Touch technology could be the opportunity we need to bring feeling into the spatial experience. #virtualreality #vr #haptics

𝗥𝗧𝗟 𝘅 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲 - 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗩 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗩𝗥 & 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗜! 🎥🦾 Lately, the buzz was all about the #Metaverse, now it's #GenAI. People are debating whether the Metaverse has faded, but the reality is that both are significant!! Instead of fixating on one, we should explore how #technologies can work together harmoniously. That’s my learning from the Deloitte x Bertelsmann event and Lara Genz's enlightening presentation from our Metaverse Lab. I now ask myself, what could the #future of #TV look like with these two technologies? ✔️ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝗥 𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗮: Imagine stepping into a #virtual #cinema where AI tailors a movie or show selection just for you. You’ll enjoy this content in a virtual theater, redefining the way you experience entertainment. ✔️ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗩𝗥 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: Immerse yourself in interactive stories within virtual reality. #AI dynamically adapts the story and virtual environment based on your choices, providing a unique and engaging narrative experience. ✔️ 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀: Put on a #VR headset to watch sports from any angle while AI delivers real-time statistics, highlights, and in-depth game analysis. This combination not only enhances your viewing perspective but also deepens your understanding of the sports you love. ✔️ 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴: Gather with friends in virtual spaces to watch TV shows or events together. AI analyzes what you’re watching and generates conversation topics, keeping discussions lively and relevant, even in a virtual setting. ✔️ 𝗔𝗜-𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝗥 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Experience VR stories that seamlessly integrate AI-generated deepfake characters, making virtual worlds more realistic and expanding storytelling possibilities for immersive content. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗩?

Meta leads the global XR (AR/VR headset) Market; AR glasses captured one-fourth of the share in Q3 2025, Counterpoint Research VR is slowing, while AR+AI smart glasses are expanding the market into a more “daily-wear” form factor, and that naturally fragments shares. #Meta still led VR but felt the slight slowdown. Meta's shipments dipped 4% YoY and share fell to 57% (from 71% in Q2). At the same time, AR smart glasses hit their highest-ever quarterly shipments, pushing AR to ~25% of total XR volumes, with #MicroLED rising to 25% of AR shipments. Meta’s strategy is clear with Ray-Ban Meta Display: enter early, scale fast through mainstream eyewear distribution, and make #AI + camera glasses a daily habit while displays mature. Notably, sales began Sept 30, so Q3 sell-in reflects just one day; the real signal will be Q4 demand and how quickly Meta can convert “glasses” into its next platform. RayNeo’s rise is what “right product at the right moment” looks like in #AR+AI glasses. It’s less about spec wars and more about shipping volume as the category moves to everyday utility. Sony remains the steady premium anchor with #PSVR2, because ecosystems beat one-off hardware cycles. When content and platform gravity are strong, you don’t need to win units; you win engagement. XREAL is quietly riding the shift toward display-led smart glasses as the mainstream “personal screen” use case forms. If comfort, optics, and portability keep improving, this lane will expand faster than many expect. PICO XR is proving that #XR demand for enterprise and location-based entertainment can still move meaningful volume. In a soft market, predictable deployments matter more than hype-driven launches.

In the second half of my Investor Day presentation, I explained extended reality (XR), how GenAI will supercharge the market, and how Qualcomm is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its growth. Here’s what I covered: ✅XR is a new computing platform. Virtual reality (VR) provides a fully immersive experience, mixed reality (MR) creates high immersion while seeing the area around you, and augmented reality (AR) enables the most natural interaction with your environment by using the common form factor of eyeglasses. ✅GenAI will drive an inflection point in XR. In AR, personalized multi-modal AI, a natural human-machine interface, and hands-free functionality will enable use cases that enhance everyday experiences, like telling you about your schedule, providing directions, and informing you of your environment ✅For VR and MR, GenAI will make already immersive experiences even more compelling by enhancing interactivity across health and fitness, gaming, educational, and workplace collaboration applications. ✅Snapdragon’s unparalleled leadership in performance per watt for PCs and smartphones helps us solve the challenge of power consumption in XR, especially AR, which requires power consumption in milliwatts. We clearly lead in this area and will sustain the lead by optimizing our IP, developing and hardening must-have perception algorithms, producing the most comprehensive product roadmap, and deeply engaging with the developer ecosystem through Snapdragon Spaces. ✅Meta, our primary partner and leader in delivering XR headsets and glasses, has trusted the purpose-built Snapdragon XR solution for multiple generations of VR/MR and AR. And with Snapdragon XR’s leadership, Qualcomm is the partner of choice for all big technology OEMs. Check out the full presentation here: https://lnkd.in/gA5B54i4

A tectonic shift in the XR market has occurred. It’s been a long time coming, but it became crystal clear to me at AWE 2025: Smartglasses and Mixed Reality are outpacing Virtual Reality as the primary drivers of future growth in the XR space and the consumer market is overtaking the enterprise sector as the leading force behind XR technology adoption. At AWE 2025, the number of companies showcasing smartglasses clearly outnumbered those focused on VR. Almost all the attention is now on consumer smartglasses (and other smart wearables) — a radical shift from previous years, when enterprise devices like HoloLens, Magic Leap, Vuzix, and RealWear were in vogue. All of these were absent from AWE 2025! Which leads me to these predictions: Over the next 2–3 years, the race will be in full flurry among the big tech companies and rising challengers to take slice of the consumer smartglasses and wearables market. Consumer adoption will be strongest among Gen Z, and this will ultimately drive enterprise adoption as they enter the workforce. Let’s take a look at what the major tech players are working on: META is expected to launch the third generation of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses with a built-in monocular display. Launch is anticipated in late 2025 or early 2026. They also recently teased an upcoming launch in collaboration with Oakley, with details set to be announced on June 20th. SNAP is preparing to release its Snap Spectacles as a consumer device in 2026. Now on their fifth generation of prototypes, they appear ready to go all in. If they can achieve the right form factor and price level, they have huge potential — especially among Gen Z, who are already highly engaged with the Snap brand on mobile. GOOGLE plans to develop and launch smartglasses in collaboration with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, as announced at Google I/O in May 2025. These glasses will be based on Google’s new Android XR platform and will feature deep integration with Gemini AI. Timing is uncertain, but late 2025 or early 2026 seems likely. APPLE will, as usual, be late to the race — but this time around, the challenges are even greater. Apple typically aims for perfection before launching new products, and smartglasses still involve too many compromises to reach Apple’s normal standards. Additionally, AI is critical to smartglasses — and Apple is currently struggling to deliver a truly competitive offering in the AI space (for good reasons, though that’s a topic for another day). My prediction: Apple may launch smartglasses in 2026 — if they can get their AI platform up to speed. And then there’s everyone else — the challengers trying to carve out their piece of the pie: Xreal, Even Realities, OPPO, Xiaomi, Huawei, and more. Will you be getting a pair of smartglasses in the next 12 months — even if you don’t need prescription lenses?

Well LinkedIn, this has been my longest stretch without posting in nearly five years. There is a reason for that. Over the past year I have been in full build and recalibrate mode, reassessing where my career, investments, and energy should be focused after a series of hard lessons learned. One of the biggest reflections coming out of that period is this: Fundamentally, and at scale, XR is not where the market believed it would be. I will not sugarcoat it. That does not mean XR lacks value. It absolutely delivers in the right contexts such as training, simulation, visualization, and certain operational environments. I have seen that impact firsthand. But markets are driven by capital alignment, and in my view capital backed the wrong layers of the stack. We saw heavy investment in software ecosystems and use case evangelism without equivalent maturation of the hardware required to operationalize it at scale. When you stack the real costs such as power, processing, thermal management, device procurement, and sustainment, the initial value proposition becomes increasingly difficult for organizations to justify outside niche deployments. Then came the industry signals: -Microsoft layoffs impacting Mixed Reality teams and the suspension of HoloLens momentum -Magic Leap restructuring and scaling back ambitions -A headset ecosystem heavily dependent on Qualcomm’s chip roadmap and release cycles -Underwelming performance of large HMD releases All of this created drag on adoption timelines. But the biggest headwind is not technical. It is human. At the same time XR has been pushing people deeper into immersive isolation, AI has accelerated the growth of synthetic interaction, automated content, generated personas, and what many call the dead internet. People are craving authenticity and real human connection more than ever. And when you put on a headset, no matter how powerful, you are by design separating yourself from the physical world and the people in it. That tension matters. So where does that leave things? For me, it is not about abandoning immersive technology. It is about reframing where and how it actually makes sense: -Headset free visualization/Immersion -Shared environment immersion -Operational, not recreational, deployments -Hardware that reduces barriers instead of adding them -Systems that reduce strain instead of adding to it The lesson is that technology adoption is not just about capability. It is about alignment between hardware maturity, economic reality, and human behavior. That is the angle I am building toward now. More to come.

Transforming ideas into Virtual Experiences: Exploring Meta's Code Samples for Unity 🚀 Discover how Meta Horizon's code samples for Unity can empower you to create immersive virtual experiences. Let's dive into three innovative examples: ⛳ Spirit Sling: #Social #Mixed #Reality #Gaming A tabletop MR game showcasing avatars, multiplayer functionality, and mixed reality capabilities. Users can invite friends to play together in the same virtual space. 😵 Cryptic Cabinet: Immersive #MR #Storytelling A short MR experience adapting to any room size, demonstrating narrative potential, gameplay, and aesthetics in virtual environments. 💡 MoveFast: #Hand #Tracking for Interactive Apps An Oculus Interaction SDK showcase featuring hand tracking for a fitness-style app, highlighting intuitive interactions in virtual experiences. Key Takeaways: ▶️ Meta's code samples simplify virtual experience development ▶️ Unity developers can create immersive MR games, stories, and interactive apps ▶️ Avatars, multiplayer, and hand tracking enhance user engagement Ready to transform your ideas? Explore our code samples and documentation to start building your own virtual experiences. Share your projects and feedback with the community! #MetaHorizon #Unity #VirtualExperiences #MR #AR #VR

I'm excited to share findings from Ericsson ConsumerLab's extensive research on extended reality (XR) technology! This study delves into the expectations and desires of current and potential XR users across 10 global markets, uncovering four key insights that are set to shape the future of augmented reality (AR) experiences over the next five years. 🚀 Key discoveries: 1️⃣ Increased Integration of Smartphone and AR devices: Despite facing challenges with current smartphone AR experiences, there's a noticeable trend towards combining smartphones with VR/AR/MR headsets/glasses. We anticipate this integration to double in the next five years, indicating a growing preference for more immersive experiences. 2️⃣ Demand for portable AR devices: Consumers are eager to take their AR experiences beyond home environments. With three-quarters expressing a desire for portable AR devices, especially in glasses form, there's a clear shift towards on-the-go AR technology. Additionally, consumers are willing to pay a 20% premium for the convenience of portability. 3️⃣ Advancements in geospatial AR technology: As AR technology evolves to adapt to geospatial surroundings, we foresee a broader range of experiences emerging. From enhanced navigation to immersive digital arts, the potential applications of geospatial AR are vast, highlighting the importance of robust network infrastructure. 4️⃣ Bystander privacy concerns: Despite the excitement surrounding XR technology, concerns about bystander privacy persist. Over 60% of consumers express apprehension about being scanned by AR devices in public, underscoring the need to address privacy issues for broader acceptance. 📈 Implications for the future: The evolution of the AR market will require collaborative efforts to drive technological innovation and consumer adoption. From optimizing network infrastructure to addressing privacy concerns, stakeholders play a crucial role in shaping the future of AR experiences. 🔗 Delve deeper into our findings and explore the evolving landscape of XR technology by downloading the full report here: https://ow.ly/5bKy50Sib5h #AugmentedReality #XR #FutureTech #ConsumerInsights #EricssonConsumerLab

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘆’𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 The recent wave of restructuring at Snap Inc. and The Walt Disney Company paints a very clear picture of where the AR/VR industry is heading - and it’s a sharp pivot from software hype to hardware reality. Snap’s decision to cut roughly 16% of its workforce from its core app business while simultaneously spinning out and expanding its dedicated "Specs" AR division is highly strategic. It underscores a fundamental truth about the XR sector right now: achieving true, consumer-ready augmented reality requires an intense, undivided focus on the physical technology. You cannot treat the necessary breakthroughs in waveguides, microLED integration, and high-refractive-index materials as a side project within a broader social media company. The optics and manufacturing challenges demand dedicated, unencumbered hardware execution. Conversely, Disney’s recent cuts across its tech and marketing divisions - following the earlier dismantling of its internal metaverse unit - show the other side of the coin. Broad, software-first virtual experiences are struggling to justify their massive overhead without the necessary, mass-adopted hardware infrastructure already in the hands of consumers. We are witnessing a significant market correction. The industry is pulling back from premature "metaverse" software plays and doubling down on the grueling, physics-bound challenges of optical engineering, ruggedization, and wearable form factors. The companies poised to dominate the next decade of XR aren't the ones building virtual worlds today; they are the ones solving the complex material and structural challenges required to actually see them. What are your thoughts on this decoupling of hardware and software strategies in the current XR market? https://lnkd.in/dxQHXEDZ https://lnkd.in/dkUXHAJU #Snap #Disney #AR #VR #AugmentedReality #Optics #Wearables #TechTrends