Lockdowns and work-from-home policies have driven multifold growth in discussions around augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in 2020 among tech companies. GlobalData’s Filing Analytics platform identified that the number of tech companies with mentions of AR/VR in all filings nearly doubled in the technology sector in 2020 compared to 2019.

AR and VR have shown growing scope in EdTech, retail, law enforcement and healthcare. Around 54% of respondents surveyed by GlobalData* reacted positively to AR developments over the past year. Likewise, the number of companies discussing AR reached 820 in 2020 compared to 396 in 2019.

Rinaldo Pereira, Senior Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Traction for these technologies has been immense this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Online education is in full swing due to prolonged social distancing measures and the usage of AR/VR tools is likely to grow in order to support remote study. Moreover, the onset of 5G is likely to fuel further growth for AR/VR in smartphones. Smart glasses will also be part of the big picture for AR/VR with GlobalData forecasting the market to reach US$1bn by 2024*.

“Furthermore, COVID-19 restrictions have forced some industries to continue operations with fewer on-site staff, which is likely to accelerate the use of wearables for industrial automation. To that end, GlobalData expects the AR market to cross US$30bn by 2025 and the VR market to breach the US$20bn mark by 2026.

*GlobalData’s report: Emerging Technology Sentiment Analysis Q4 2020 – Thematic Research