The virtual reality (VR) and mobile augmented reality (AR) markets, which have shown high growth over the past few years, have shown sluggish performance recently, but are still expected to grow high in the mid to long term.

According to PWC (2024), the global virtual reality (VR) market has recently declined in 2023 due to sluggish performance of major virtual reality devices, and remained at $2.59 billion in 2024, up 2.9% year-on-year, but is expected to grow to $41.1 billion in 2028 (2024 to 2028).

In 2023, the virtual reality device market was depressed by the underperformance of major headsets such as Meta Quest 3, Sony PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2), and Pico 4.

The consumer mobile augmented reality (AR) market is expected to grow 22.1% year-on-year to $25.74 billion in 2024 as the field of use expands to various fields such as commerce, education, and real estate, and to grow to $6.19 billion in 2028 (´ 24 to ´ 28).

Despite the release of Apple Vision Pro in June 2023, the expansion of demand in the XR market was low due to expensive terminal prices, but demand is expected to spread in earnest after 2025 as Apple Vision Pro will be unveiled in countries other than the U.S. and a number of XR devices, including Samsung, will be unveiled in 2024.

Key Takeaways:

• VR and AR markets are currently experiencing a slowdown.
• Despite recent setbacks, both VR and AR are expected to experience significant growth in the mid to long term.
• VR market is projected to reach $41.1 billion by 2028, driven by continued technological advancements and development of compelling content.
• AR market is anticipated to reach $6.19 billion by 2028, fueled by increasing applications across various sectors like commerce, education, and real estate.
• High terminal prices have initially limited XR market expansion, but widespread adoption is expected after 2025 with the release of new devices and expansion of offerings.