This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the Real World Visualisation market. This report comprises details on design, assembly, campus, field, project management, quality control, and training use cases for Connected Glasses, Tablets, and Video Walls. The Connected Glasses segment in the report comprises both consumer examples and enterprise use cases of glasses. Tablets and Video Walls applications have specific enterprise use cases.
Enterprises have started using AR/VR devices not only for remote monitoring and supervision but also to enhance business efficiency, reduce manual work and error, and support workers in dangerous and remote working situations such as mining, healthcare, and manufacturing.
The market is expanding, but at a much slower pace than initially expected. These devices are not only expensive, but they also don't add substantial value to enterprises outside of selected roles. Consumer versions face the same issue of high costs and a perception of being ‘nice-to-have’ rather than an essential gadget, resulting in lacklustre adoption of these devices.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue.
A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector break-downs and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
The “Market development” section of the report has been further divided into Connected glasses, Tablets, and Video Walls.
This section first talks about the dominance of the connected glasses market by a handful of vendors, like Meta. However, it also adds that despite investing billions of dollars, tech giants like Google, Toshiba, Microsoft, Samsung, and Meta have all failed to establish themselves in this space. For example, Reality Labs (Meta’s virtual reality division) continues to incur heavy losses, over USD70 billion since 2020. In 2025 alone, the division reported a loss of USD19 billion against USD2.2 billion in sales. It then discusses two major components that account for the largest share of the bill of materials in developing immersive headsets and smart glasses – displays and processors.
This section has been categorised into Consumer and Enterprise subsections.
This subsection has been further bifurcated into Consumer smart glasses and Consumer headsets.
This subsection begins with a short explanation about the two major variants of smart glasses – the first variant enables users to perform actions such as capture images, make phone calls, livestream for social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook, and record speech; and the second variant, which can project digital information into users’ field of view using AR technology (in addition to all the social media actions performed by the first kind). It also mentions the communication technology used by both these variants, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
It discusses the evolution of smart glasses and observes that in the past couple of years, consumer smart glasses have become lighter, more comfortable, and less obvious, which have become an important factor in broadening their appeal. It then talks about some of the features of these smart glasses, which is expected to appeal to an array of potential customers. It also lists some of the limitations associated with smart glasses, which may impact their adoption, like users experiencing physical discomfort (such as nausea) and the challenges developers are facing (in terms of designing and building these devices).
It then talks about the use of AI in this space, which is being increasingly explored for differentiation purposes and the associated benefits – like providing personalised recommendations. It also provides a few examples of relevant IoT products in this application including, Engo2 and INAIR 2 Pro.
This subsection begins with a description of how standalone devices have become increasingly common and how they fare when compared to the early peripheral devices. For instance, although standalone headsets are easier to use, typically, they fail to achieve the same level of performance as a peripheral device.
It also charts some limitations of virtual or mixed reality headsets (like collecting, storing, and sharing a user’s biometric information), which may impact their adoption. It also argues that even within the gaming community (where the adoption of headsets is largely concentrated), the overall uptake of headsets remains low, primarily due to their high cost compared to mainstream gaming consoles. To cite an instance, Sony’s PlayStation 5 can be purchased for USD499 and the compatible headset, the PlayStation VR2, costs USD399. It also contains some examples of relevant IoT products in this application, like the Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro.
The Enterprise section has also been categorised into Enterprise smart glasses and Enterprise headsets.
This subsection describes how smart glasses are used across various industries and their benefits for the workers, like enabling them to easily navigate through a construction site and collaborate on virtual projects. It then discusses how the entry of multiple vendors has provided enterprises with a variety of easy-to-use and affordable smart glasses, but since large companies have made big investments and lost money, the development of new products remains fraught. It also gives a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Amazon trialling AI smart glasses with its delivery agents.
This subsection focuses on how the use of virtual and mixed-reality headsets is becoming more common across industry verticals and their benefits. For instance, in the automotive industry, they can save material; in the healthcare industry, they enhance proficiency and device familiarity; and in the mining industry, they ensure better product supervision. It then discusses the challenges faced by the market for enterprise headsets (including slow testing) and provides a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Mercedes-Benz deploying virtual reality headsets across its dealerships in Canada.
The tablets section has also been further categorised into the following subsections: Tablets as a gateway technology, Cost, and Drawbacks.
This subsection defines tablets and discusses how these devices can help industrial workers (for instance, with remote monitoring, servicing, and maintenance operations). It then talks about the stiff competition tablets face from other wearable technologies (including AR/VR headsets and smart glasses). For instance, VR headsets have now become cheaper and some of them (like the Meta Quest 3) may, in fact, be cheaper than some tablets (like the Apple iPad Pro).
It then focuses on one of the key use cases for AR tablets - remote guidance, supervision, and monitoring at distant site locations. In this context, it contrasts tablets with smartphones and charts the advantages of tablets over the latter (like larger screens, which enable a wider viewing and visualisation experience).
This subsection discusses the price and size of these tablets. For instance, budget tablets can cost between USD200 and USD400, and more expensive ones can cost up to USD1,200 (depending on their features and specifications).
This subsection touches upon the major drawback of tablets – the difficulty associated with holding them for longer periods of time. It also discusses how this issue may result in serious accidents, especially for miners and construction workers. It also contains a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application like Porsche using an augmented reality solution for its Taycan models (sports electric vehicle).
This section describes what video walls are and what they do in retail and industrial contexts. For instance, in a retail context, they offer a realistic, immersive, and engaging environment to consumers, and in an industrial context, they allow visualisation of real-time data and content.
It then briefly talks about how these devices help operators manage multiple operations simultaneously and explains how retailers (particularly in fashion and cosmetics) are increasingly deploying AR-based smart mirrors to provide an immersive visual experience to customers. Case in point, L’Oréal used AR-enabled smart mirrors to let customers quickly try on its full range of beauty products virtually, regardless of in-store availability.
It also discusses the scope of smart mirrors on storefronts to enhance customer engagement (since they can overlay a brand’s products for passersby in real-time, allowing them to visualise themselves wearing or using the brand’s products).
It also provides a few examples of relevant IoT deployments in this application, including Maybelline partnering with FFFace.me for smart mirror deployment and achieving three million organic views and mentions within a month.
The key vendors section lists some of the main providers of products and services related to the market, such as Meta, Apple, Vuzix, Pico, MySize, and HTC. The report provides profiles of the various vendors, including aspects most relevant to this Application Group, such as product offerings, pricing, financial results, and technology.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of devices, which will grow from 47 million in 2025 to 157 million in 2035.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the real world visualisation application group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the Real World Visualisation Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 9%.
