Marketers’ Roundtable: The Future of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality

In the world of immersive technologies, virtual reality (VR) is on top—it's the most understood and furthest along. But augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are close behind.

There are several schools of thought about how this market will shake out. Some analysts believe that AR or MR may ultimately leapfrog VR to reach mass adoption.

For example, 2018 forecasts from SuperData research anticipate that AR and MR will surpass VR in 2021. The firm expects AR and MR will become more integrated into people’s daily lives through smartphones, while VR "will serve the needs of those who want the most high fidelity immersive experiences possible."

Another camp of experts believes there is no real competition between VR, AR and MR, and that they will continue to evolve together, each with distinct use cases. Still others see the lines blurring between VR and AR as both become part of the same continuum.

We asked marketers who work with these technologies to weigh in as part of eMarketer’s April report, "Virtual Reality Beyond Gaming: Solving Business Problems in Industries."