Mixed Reality Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Surge in adoption of the IoT: The rising integration of mixed reality with the Internet of Things is unleashing the latest possibilities for an interactive environment. According to data published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, by the end of 2025, there will be 75 billion IoT devices. The IoT-powered mixed reality systems are capable of visualizing data from the connected devices, helping in decision-making in logistics and manufacturing. This confluence of technologies is expanding the use cases of mixed reality and speeding up the adoption, and further acting as major growth drivers.
• Surge in adoption in medical and healthcare applications: Healthcare is the most prominent sector for mixed reality adoption, owing to its ability to increase surgical planning and medical training. A large number of surgeons are utilizing MR for conducting preoperative visualization and enabling them to explore the anatomy of the patient in 3D before conducting any intricate surgical procedure. Other than this, data published by the World Economic Forum there will be a health worker scarcity of more than 11 million by the end of 2030. The inclusion of mixed reality in healthcare is predicted to bridge the gap and provide healthcare services to a larger population.
• Surge in adoption in e-commerce for enhanced customer experiences: Various retailers are including mixed reality technologies to fabricate immersive shopping experiences. This helps mitigate the gap between brick-and-mortar stores and purchases from digital stores. The mixed reality enables a virtual facility for try-on and interactive visualization of the products. According to the International Trade Administration, global B2C e-commerce revenue is projected to thrive and garner USD 5.5 trillion by 2027. The inclusion of MR in retail encourages brand loyalty and fosters market growth by expanding commercial use cases.  

Challenges

• Limited battery life of MR devices: The very less operating duration of wearable MR devices mainly relates to their limited battery power since their headsets survive only a few hours of continuous use before requiring recharging. Extended usage requirements in enterprise settings create a major issue since wearable MR devices typically run out of power after a few hours of operation.
• Technical limitations and performance issues: Despite various technical advancements, mixed reality devices still go through technical limitations such as a restricted field of view, latency, and motion sickness in some users. These kinds of issues in performance can hamper user experience and further lower the inclination towards MR solutions. Additionally, exhaustive innovation is needed to surpass these constraints, but the adoption can be time-consuming and exorbitant, slowing market adoption.