Augmented Reality (AR) smart glass manufacturers continue to invest and improve their AR devices, despite the intense competition of smartphones and the uncertainty in the consumer market in terms of smart glasses massive adoption. In 2019, the AR smart glass market is significantly richer, with some companies standing out with their innovations. Technological advancements, in combination with affordable prices, will further drive growth and total shipments, which are expected to reach 20 million units in 2024, finds global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research.

“Weight distribution, input method options, wide field of view (FoV), strong processors, and extended battery life are the main key features that manufacturers updated in their latest devices to remain competitive and deliver more immersive and realistic experiences to the users,” says Eleftheria Kouri, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “More affordable prices in combination with technological improvements and supporting end-to-end platform and software solutions are proof that the AR market is more mature and able to overcome customer adoption challenges and meet demanding enterprise use cases and needs.”

The enterprise AR market has new hardware entrants, each attempting to overcome challenges such as price and user flexibility and encourage more businesses to adopt AR solutions. For instance, X2 by ThirdEye and the ThinkReality A6 by Lenovo are technically advanced glasses targeting enterprise at a more affordable price. Lenovo also expands value through a hardware-agnostic software and service platform that provides user flexibility for application development and device management.

On the consumer side, smart glass manufacturers are showing significant improvements in the design of the glasses; Focals by North are among the most stylish consumer AR glasses in the market, with nReal Light pushing the form factor to performance ratio possible. Even so, the consumer market still faces a lack of content and user value, as well as a price challenge, which limits adoption today.

“AR smart glass manufacturers are showing significant progress and steadily overcoming the challenges and inefficiencies of the devices, with competition ramping up quickly, to encourage adoption and better meet consumer/enterprise needs,” concludes Kouri. “Still, smart glass manufacturers need to provide a richer variety of use cases/applications through partnerships or in-house development, more proof of possible ROI across use cases, and show greater accessibility to SMEs and end customers through compelling and targeted value propositions.”  

These findings are from ABI Research’s Augmented Reality Hardware and Components Market Update. This report is part of the company’s Augmented and Virtual Reality research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights. Application Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and factors for a specific technology.