The AR/VR headset market experienced a surge in Q4 2023, with a 130.4% year-over-year growth, indicating a shift in consumer interest and technological advancements. Meta regained market share with its low-cost, high-volume strategy, while overall shipments of AR/VR headsets in 2023 declined by 23.5% compared to the previous year. The market began to recover in the year’s second half with new product launches and an economic recovery in key regions.
So, let’s get to some interesting use cases.
Apple is showcasing new Vision Pro apps that offer immersive healthcare experiences. These apps enable surgical planning, medical training, mental health support, and exploration of the human body. The mixed-reality experience of the Vision Pro headset integrates digital content with the real world, providing spatial experiences for medical professionals and patients. Some highlighted apps include MyMako for surgical planning, CyranoHealth for training on new equipment, Cinematic Reality for exploring human anatomy, and Xaia for AI-powered mental health support.
Doctors at Cromwell Hospital in London have used the Apple Vision Pro during spinal surgeries. The software, developed by eXeX, allowed the medical team to view virtual screens in the operating room to select tools and monitor surgery progress.
Ray-Ban’s Meta sunglasses now have the ability to identify and describe landmarks, acting as a tour guide for travelers. The feature provides text and audio descriptions of landmarks, offering additional information to enhance the user’s experience. This new capability is part of Meta’s multimodal features and is available to users in the early access program.
Why do we care?
This is a small but exciting market, and it’s growing. My eye is on those business cases—we’re not spending time on dinosaurs looking realistic in your living room. We’re focused on applications for commercial use, and healthcare certainly is one such scenario. With an eye for emerging marketspaces, these use cases appear tangible, impactful, and quite profitable.