When it comes to emerging technologies, numerous tech companies appear to be eyeing virtual reality as a veritable New World ripe for plunder. The technology itself, of course, has existed for decades in one form or another; however, it’s only been able to offer little more than novel functionality for consumer-facing markets.
But VR tech has evolved dramatically in recent years and the industry is now heating up and heading towards a virtual arms race with 2016 now clearly the year that we’ll see the headsets in living rooms.
Companies like Samsung, Sony, Google and Oculus are now all names associated with VR for gaming, social and mobile platforms – and they’re all getting closer to bringing their products to market, but how fully realized will the products be?
Microsoft has its own offering evening the playing field with the HoloLens – which focuses on augmented reality, or holograms – leaving us to wonder whether will AR finally secure a place under the spotlight.
Let’s take a look at how the virtual competition stacks up so far.