VR and AR predictions for 2020 | What to expect from VR/AR? | Crysberry
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VR and AR predictions for 2020

Insights, Technology, VR / AR

1 October 2019

The 2020 year is coming soon. That means that we can start checking the impact of technologies in the passing year. Also, we can try to make some predictions on how to use VR and AR in 2020.

So, let’s find out the results of this year and what can we wait in the nearest future.

Short AR/VR industry review in 2019-2020

The 2019 year has already shown us a set of great announcements from tech giants. New features and products from Facebook, Snapchat, Google, Apple, Huawei, and YouTube are on the way.

Take a look at some statistics based on XR Industry Insight Report 2019-2020 to understand how AR/VR changed the business areas this year:

trends vr trends ar
What should we expect from VR and AR technologies in 2020 year. Predictions for AR and VR technologies in 2020 year

So, you can see that recent reviews show the constant growth of technology implementation in different areas. Let’s check VR and AR predictions for 2020 to understand how you can use it for your business in the future.

Trends driving AR/VR in 2020

AR/VR headsets in 2020

AR/VR headsets with IT giants’ investment in the technology and price competition will make high-end AR/VR accessible to larger audiences.

For instance, Facebook’s Oculus Quest:

Facebook’s Oculus Quest headset overview

And recently presented Half-dome prototype:

The future of VR headsets

And we can’t mention the recent presentation of Vive Cosmos by HTC. This is a new generation of the high end, which is connecting a VR headset via wires to a PC.

The HTC Vive Cosmos headset overview

As for AR headset, Apple reveals AR headsets with 58- to 68-degree FOVs. Recently, developers found out several discoveries in iOS 13 beta:

  • a stereo augmented reality solution called “StarBoard”, which is a necessary software prelude to the release of compatible hardware;
  • field of view specifications for three different AR headsets (codenamed Luck with 58 degrees diagonal, Franc with 61 degrees diagonal, and Garta with 68 degrees diagonal), and a working StarTester mode that demonstrates how the hardware will work. Even the smallest field of view is larger than Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, and Magic Leap One’s.

As all these features are in beta and officially unrevealed by Apple, we can’t make clear conclusions about the performance or limitations of the software at this stage. But we can say that Apple is working to improve upon the marginal fields of view found in existing AR headsets.

AR glasses prototype

5G influence on VR and AR quality in 2020

5G will open new opportunities for the development of AR/VR technologies in 2020. We can expect to see more permanent, virtual objects and multi-user experiences emerge with 5G and edge computing. This can help to incorporate more sensor data from consumer wearables into VR and AR experiences. This will create an opportunity for a user to not only passively observe an experience but actually control it with their data that comes from their smartwatch or other wearables.

5G influence on VR and AR technologies

VR social platforms

Recently Facebook introduced its latest social platform. Horizon is a shared VR world for Oculus Quest and Rift that is coming in 2020. The company is building this new social network using its experience with traditional social platforms like Instagram and previous VR communities. However, Horizon is planned to be more than just a 3D chatroom. It will provide opportunities to meet up with friends and strangers in Horizon’s town square, create your own spaces, games, and communities to connect to that hub.

VR social platform

So, we can say that people will be picking their heads up away from their phones and move to headsets. This will bring the feeling of true presence while meeting people from all over the world without leaving their homes. And this is not only about social interaction. VR social networks can become a platform for business meetings.

Consumer market with AR and VR technologies

The consumer market already understands the use cases of AR/VR and seeing real products they can use. Of course, this is not a new trend. However, the recent improvements in both hardware and software will change the area. Both technologies are beginning to become much more accessible for consumer entertainment. This will give more space for growth in the AR/VR industry with more success in the coming months.

Travel, Tourism & VR

We must admit that VR has an increasing impact on the travel and tourism industry. Users can now experience a region staying in the comfort of their homes. Of course, much of VR usage has been focused on potential travelers testing a location. This allows people to understand if they want to visit that place before spending money on a real trip. Additionally, many VR apps allow people to re-experience their holiday after they’ve returned home. Should we say that it can edge out traditional photos? This can affect the industry in the next few years.

VR and AR for traveling

AI and Haptics influence in 2020

Have you watched Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One? Well, we can say that it seems like we are closer to that movie reality more than ever. AI could make games to be tailored to one’s unique experience. We have already covered this topic in Machine learning in games: prospects for your app article. However, AI implementation is larger than just this, though. It could be the stepping stone into creating a real virtual world, perhaps without (or with less) moderation.

Additionally, AI not only affects the virtual environment but could be critical in improving the haptics and motion-gear associated with VR as well.

VR gear must allow achieving the true feeling of touch experience as this what people instinctively crave for. At the moment three different solutions exist for VR experience: graspable, wearable and touchable haptic systems.

vr with artificial intelligence

However, a smother VR experience requires a combination of graspable and wearable ones. And, we can say that there are a few companies already working on haptic suits and gloves. The major challenge here is to provide a unique sense and feeling of gravity. But, there is also another thing that will make a huge change in virtual reality. We are talking about speech. So natural language processing (NLP) comes in as another subset of AI. Several projects within NLP could be useful in VR, such as speech-to-text or vice versa. NLP methods within VR allow adding realistic communication to the virtual world. 

For sure, this journey has just begun. But this will be one of the trends moving technologies forward.

The world is constantly changing with the influence of technologies. And these are the changes we expect in the nearest time. We believe that VR and AR predictions for 2020 will take place soon enough.

l.sidorenko