Consumer virtual reality (VR) will be worth $6.9bn in 2022, increasing to $20bn in 2027, according to Omdia’s Consumer VR Headset and Content Revenue Forecast 2022-2027. In the face of macroeconomic challenges, the market continues to expand, with 12.5 million headsets expected to be sold in 2022, and $1.6bn spent on VR content.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Empowering the Future of VR/AR Content Consumption through 5G, covers seven virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) application areas and their use cases.

Growth in worldwide and European* AR/VR spend will decline in 2020 compared to the pre-COVID-19 forecast scenario according to the June release of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) Spending Guide. Marked reductions in IT spend and an economic downturn due to the pandemic will slow worldwide AR/VR spend to $10.7 billion — a tempered 35.3% growth from the $7.9 billion spent in 2019. But the long-term outlook remains strongly positive — IDC estimates a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in AR/VR spending of 76.9% worldwide in 2019–2024 to reach $136.9 billion by 2024.

Strategy Analytics predicts a strong recovery for the global Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) markets in 2021 after COVID-driven contraction in 2020. This recovery is expected to be spurred on by a 6 fold increase in XR (the combination of AR and VR) shipments, recent consumer-friendly innovations to AR headsets, and the adoption of smartphone-tethered VR.

The global augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) market is expected to grow by $125.19 billion during 2020-2024 as the advances increase AR/VR’s applicability to new areas, and major players in AR/VR merge and acquire other firms, according to a study by Technavio.

A study from Frost & Sullivan claims that by 2024, the artificial intelligence (AI) market for surgery will reach $225.4 million up from $69.1 million in 2019. The use of AI and analytics in conventional operating rooms will help hospitals address inefficiencies and clinical challenges physicians face when performing surgery, according to this new study.

LG Uplus has a 5G market share 9 percentage points higher than its overall retail market share in South Korea, enabled by a strong focus on AR and VR content. New research from Strategy Analytics concludes that, in a highly competitive market where differentiation on network quality and pricing is difficult, the operator has successfully used AR and VR content as both a compelling use case for B2C 5G services and as a source of content exclusivity driving customer acquisition.

Worldwide spending on augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) is forecast to reach $160 billion in 2023, up significantly from the $16.8 billion forecast for 2019. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide, the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for AR/VR spending will be 78.3 percent.

Sales of connected consumer devices — including networked cameras, security systems, and connected health devices — will exceed 520 million units by 2022, according to Parks Associates. The report, sponsored by Calix, presents the opportunities emerging from this wealth of residential devices and details strategies for service providers to operate in the smart home market in ways that leverage their strengths while avoiding the pitfalls of past efforts.

After a content-starved market introduction, virtual reality (VR) is ready to thrive off a swath of new and compelling content choices. ABI Research forecasts total VR device shipments will reach 110 million by 2021.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that revenues from VR-specific games will reach $8.2 billion by 2023, rising from an expected $1.2 billion in 2019. It argued that development of smartphone VR content is essential to increase consumer confidence in VR across all platforms, following a disappointing year of hardware sales in 2018.

The bloom was apparently back on the rose for augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR) and computer vision startups in 2018, according to new research from Digi-Capital.  The gains in Q4 2018 driven by large, late-stage deals in China.

The future of AR/VR could be bright, but only if it moves beyond where it is today. 2018 was the first of what look like two transitional years, with a potential shakeout in 2019 before an inflection point in late 2020. Digi-Capital's new Augmented/Virtual Reality Report Q1 2019 and AR/VR Analytics Platform look at where we are today, where we’re heading tomorrow, and some of the changes needed to get us there.

Sony has sold over three million Playstation VR (PSVR) headsets to date, making it the clear market leader in the premium/standalone VR platform sector over its HTC Vive and Oculus Rift competitors. These numbers are exactly in line with the hardware sales forecasts in Digi-Capital’s AR/VR/XR Analytics Platform.