APAC AR/VR spend to reach US$14.8 bil due to collaboration: IDC

• Majority of VR spending came from the consumer industry
• Web3, metaverse, major drivers that will drive new business priorities

According to the latest release of IDC's Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide, Asia/Pacific spending on AR/VR solutions is expected to capture a net spending of $14.8 billion (RM65 billion) by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 40.1% (2021-2026). 

In a statement, the research firm said a major chunk of VR spending came from the consumer industry, which is expected to showcase a similar trend over the forecast period. 

However, growing opportunities for commercial use cases, such as training, collaboration, and metaverse-related activities, are expected to offer promising growth avenues, it added.

IDC said in the past, troubleshooting and designing needs of enterprises have been met by AR solutions which will continue over the forecast period. 

Nevertheless, new devices launched by several vendors in the latter years of the forecast are expected to cater to the consumer market with newfound opportunities for entertainment and personal productivity needs, it added.

Lily Phan, future of work, research director at IDC Asia/Pacific  said AR/VR technology is set to transform how we live, work and play. 

“The technology has opened new opportunities for gaming, entertainment, consumer, healthcare, manufacturing, education and many more.

“As the technology gets more perfected and the metaverse is more embedded in the future of work, spending on AR/VR will see strong growth rates of up to 40% in the next few years,” said Phan.

According to the report, discrete manufacturing, education, professional services, healthcare providers, and personal and consumer services captured more than 66% of total spending in 2022 among the 19 commercial industries covered by IDC. 

It said training emerged as the primary use case for discrete manufacturing, healthcare, and personal and consumer services in 2022.

Professional services showcased the highest CAGR of 41.5% owing to the rising need to engage in more effective collaboration, enabling company wide sharing and interaction, it added.

The report stated that healthcare also showcased a similar trend for collaboration use cases and is expected to result in spending of US$44.7 million (RM196 million) by 2026.

It said 360-degree educational video viewing (post-secondary) emerged as the most promising use case over the forecast period, capturing a CAGR of 48.1%. 

It added that AR/VR technology will offer an increased immersive learning experience by enabling information virtualization, thereby developing innovation, problem-solving, and analytical thinking skills.

Additionally, the advent of the metaverse offers an impetus to the AR/VR market. 

AR/VR technology, along with AI, cloud, and blockchain, will be used to impact six major markets namely entertainment, social, education, finance, and work, the research showed.

It added that technological investments made by Meta in recent years in AR/VR technology and the lack of competitive rivalry are expected to promote other companies such as Sony, Apple, and Pico to enter the AR/VR market in the latter years of the forecast period, thus offering promising growth opportunities for new players and diverse options for consumers.

“Web3 and metaverse are acting as major drivers which in turn are driving new business priorities,” said Abhik Sarkar, market analyst at IDC Asia/Pacific.

“The entertainment industry will likely be disrupted the most as virtual entertainment becomes more polarized. The metaverse development will also help improve marketing and digital economy as eCommerce will continue to showcase accelerated growth due to immersive and comprehensive customer experience,” he added

The report indicated that services captured the highest spending share in 2022 at 34.4% followed closely by hardware, and software. 

It said the hardware segment is expected to dominate the market by 2026 and can capture a total spending of $8.2 billion (RM36 billion).

It added that the segment is also expected to grow at a CAGR of 44.8% (2021-2026).