With CES 2023 ending triumphantly in Las Vegas, the dust is already starting to settle on everything revealed and shown at the event, and there’s no shortage of winners and losers amidst it all.
While TVs, laptops, headphones and other usual suspects made their expected appearance at the event, the unveiling of a surprising number of new augmented reality (AR) glasses and virtual/mixed reality (VR/MR) headsets did announced stole the show.
And with rumors of Apple’s long-awaited entry into the VR/AR (and mixed reality) space now also heating up, there are many reasons for high hopes and expectations for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technology in 2023.
But is it all worth the hype?
The Secret of Mixed Reality
Alongside the arrival of Sony PlayStation’s highly anticipated PSVR 2 headset on the show floor, the title of arguably the most iconic new AR or VR gadget set to debut at CES belongs to the HTC Vive XR Elite – HTC’s latest headset, the regular at the VR market.
Unlike previous HTC headsets, however, the HTC Vive XR Elite (due to launch in February) sees itself as much more than a VR headset, with added augmented and mixed reality capabilities. Yes, these are all different, and as expanded Scope of Focus immediately pitches the new headset as a direct competitor to the similarly focused Meta Quest Pro that released last year, and the rumored Apple headset on the horizon.
But what exactly does “mixed reality” mean?
Before you hope to understand mixed reality, let’s first review the definitions and differences between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
We explained this in a previous article, but to reiterate, virtual reality was designed to immerse a user in a brand new world (or reality) to explore, while augmented reality offers users a way different world by adding new elements to the existing reality around them.
And this is where the definition of mixed reality can get a little messy.
Mixed reality, or MR, is something that is often incorrectly referred to as simply a catch-all term that encompasses both augmented reality and virtual reality. Confusingly, this is a term more appropriate to define “augmented reality” (XR) that encompasses AR, VR and MR.
This suggests that MR is a proprietary technology that is mysteriously both true and untrue at the same time.
Mixed reality is best described as an extension of augmented reality that incorporates elements of virtual reality to distinguish it from AR alone (hence “mixed”). While MR, like AR, offers ways to complement existing reality, it does so in a far more engaging way than AR alone. For example, if an AR app on your phone shows you a giant whale in the sky above you, you can use a mixed reality headset to walk up to the whale and virtually pat it on the head. As you can see from our use of the word headset, like VR, MR requires additional gear, leaving users hands free to pat the head. Put simply, this is mixed reality.
If the idea of playing Pokémon Go and being able to virtually cuddle a Squirtle sounds enticing to you, you’re not alone, but the widespread success of MR devices remains stalled.
Until Apple comes out with concrete information about its long-rumoured mixed reality headset, MR gadgets in the form of bulkier headsets just don’t look like moving the dial in any appreciable way for the average consumer. This is in large part due to the high prices attached to MR headsets. For example, the HTC Vive XR Elite is said to cost around $1,099 / £1,299 / AU$2,300 at launch, only marginally lower than the Meta Quest Pro, which offers similar mixed reality capabilities.
And if the HTC Vive XR Elite managed to both delight and disappoint at CES, it wasn’t alone.
AR shows promises and problems at CES 2023
Four new sets of AR glasses were launched at CES this year, including the previously released Magic Leap 2, along with new demonstrations from TCL, Lumus, and Vusix, among others. And while they all show promise, with TechRadar being particularly impressed with Lumus’ offering, it’s fair to assume they’ve also shown some worrisome and known issues.
Finally, the idea of augmented reality is not new as it dates back about four centuries.
Italian scholar Giambattista della Porta speculated on the same core idea that drives AR today in his book Magia Naturalis, first published in 1558. His description of a sheet of glass used to reflect and position light to create illusions of objects appearing where they otherwise would not be It was later brought to life as an illusion for stage shows in the mid-19th century. And this “Pepper’s Ghost” illusion continues to be used, with the technique not far removed from how augmented reality technology works in AR glasses today.
And AR applications through wearable glasses haven’t had quite the same success as Pepper’s Ghost for 19th-century stage shows.
When Google Glass launched in 2014, it caused a lot of excitement, but the high price tag and limitations of the technology at the time acted as significant barriers to success. Consequently, it has since disappeared, with Google appearing to be backing away from AR glasses.
And similar issues still plague the new models, most notably the general clunkiness of how the glasses handle some tasks. Most applications disappoint or fail completely, while others are too dependent on external factors such as lighting conditions. AR glasses whose images disappear or darken in certain situations will not impress anyone or tempt them to part with their money.
For example, if you can get your hands on the Magic Leap 2, it will set you back at least $3,299 (about £2,710 / AU$4,771). Even with Magic Leap 2’s purported focus on appealing to business and industry, given the issues the technology still suffers, it’s hard to imagine the product launching in any meaningful way at this price point.
The other AR glasses unveiled at CES, like the Vuzix Ultralite, TCL’s RayNeo X2, and the Lumus Z-Lens, don’t have concrete prices or release dates yet, but despite impressive debuts on the CES 2023 show floor, the Technology still not available. t where it needs to be.
But it seems like there’s greater hope on the horizon.
Apple holds the future of MR in its hands
There’s no reason to think that MR headsets and AR glasses will fail completely as gadgets, but if the bright future for these technologies is anytime soon, it will likely depend on Apple.
While exact specs and details of what Apple’s MR headset will look like remain elusive, there’s a good chance it’ll be the spark this space needs, whether it’s successful or not. That’s because of Apple’s profile in the tech world.
A valuable point of comparison would be in the realm of smartwatch technology.
Prior to the debut of the Apple Watch, the smartwatch market was largely stagnant, with existing technology mostly falling into niche territory, such as the Swatch paparazzi of the early 2000s (opens in new tab) and ventures into the now-defunct smartwatch hope Pebble.
However, since Apple’s debut in this space, the smartwatch market has exploded.
And while AR/VR/MR technologies may not lend themselves as well to broad consumer adoption as smartwatches, there is still reason to be very excited about what Apple’s entry into this space will lead to.
While what we saw at CES 2023 might have been enough to catch our attention, the real reason for the excitement about the future of AR/VR/MR comes from something we have Not to be seen in Las Vegas this year.
