Are Consumer AR Devices the Next iPhone Moment?

The AR/VR headsets might have been the cool kids on the block before all the hype. When Vision Pro launched, the tech picked up the pace. And guess what? After a quarter-year of the launch, it died and went into hibernation again.

There are several reasons, but we will not be covering them in this month’s IRIS issue.

What is the alternative, and what is the next iPhone moment that we are talking about? It is pretty hard to see the future with the current tech. But we might just have something on the horizon about to pivot immersive consumer tech.

With Zuck almost dodging a Steve Ballmer moment with his blunt and hot take that he put on Instagram for Vision Pro, it is apparent that Apple could not entice consumers enough to go gaga for the $3,500 headset. In fact, there have been reports of it being returned.

Now, it has been clear that despite losing several billion dollars for his immersive dreams, Zuck is, in fact, not stopping until he has an iPhone moment with his ongoing money burn.

The major problem with today’s immersive headsets is that no matter how much you increase the resolution, they will still make you feel nauseous or cause you to strain your eyes.

But do we have any alternative in this age of tech other than heavy and eye-gouging headsets? Or are cool-looking toasters the way to go?

We cannot predict that for sure, but we do have a similar but very promising alternative to that.

And yes, they are AR Glasses.

So the market has been hinting at cool-looking AR Glasses that don’t cost you a fortune, are lightweight, and don’t promise to remove your phone as a daily driver (yet).

Recent developments include XREAL launching a companion AR device (sort of an Android tablet; more on it in the industry recap), an announcement by Meta about the most advanced piece of technology on the planet in its domain: holographic AR glasses, and several promising start-ups delivering new display technologies for AR glasses that are cheaper to make and softer on the eyes. It is no wonder that AR glasses will take the industry by storm in the coming couple of years.

Our Verdict

All eyes are on Meta. They have put so much into the R&D, and it is pretty sure that they will not miss making it to the next iPhone moment. Perseverance could be the key for Zuck this time.

We felt the Meta Quest was a way better deal when weighed alongside the Apple Vision Pro. HoloLens sucks (tried and tested it). Nothing from Apple has been promising since 2007; they have been milking the ecosystem for quite some time, and the cow might run dry if they don’t develop something more consumer-oriented that hits less on the wallet. The market is already slippery, and tech has been stagnant for some time, only improving by fractions.

Having personally worked with the Meta Reality Labs, the team is nothing but driven, focused and passionate, which is all it takes to revolutionise an industry.

It is not going to be a big corporation that cracks the perfect AR glasses display tech or processing, or for that matter, any other part of it. With some reports on their project named “Orion,” Meta might be on the brink of coming up with an amalgamation of all the innovations available and pull an iPhone moment, making it the second coming of the innovation for Zuckerberg.