Ecosystem Approach and 5G Networks Will Maximize Market For AR Headsets

Strategy Analytics’ and Huawei’s new white paper, “AR Insight and Application Practice“ shows that key features of 5G networks including Guaranteed Bit Rates, Latency, Accurate Positioning and Mobility will impact AR. Edge computing and storage is also essential to deliver the full benefits of AR.

“AR has a truly transformative potential. It is already starting to deliver on this in the enterprise space. While the few hit consumer AR apps on the smartphone give a hint of the future, the advent of consumer AR headsets and their deep integration with 5G are likely to bring new use cases through hands-free, in-vision augmentation of the real world,“ said report author, David MacQueen, Executive Director of the Virtual & Augmented Reality Ecosystem research service at Strategy Analytics.

“The likelihood is that to achieve a mass market price point, consumer AR headsets will also be tethered to a 5G smartphone. This is a natural pairing, since AR’s main benefits come from mobility use cases. For a low-cost device, more processing will also have to be in the cloud, which has implications for network design. The device, network and content will all have to work together in tandem to deliver the best possible experience. Partnerships across the value chain will be critical to allow the AR market to flourish to its full potential,“ added MacQueen.