This year's CES and MWC both reported an increase in the number of exhibitors for AR smartglasses, growing from only a handful to more than 100 vendors showcasing prototypes, samples, and final products, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a Taipei-based ICT research institute. " Although AR and VR can oftentimes be blurred, they have significant differences that should not be overlooked. VR headsets are mainly used for gaming purposes, while AR smartglasses have redirected their use to enterprise market," says Remus Hsu, senior analyst with MIC.

"As AR companies continue to enhance basic and advanced features for the enterprise market and make improvements to draw individual consumers, smartglasses is anticipated to become more widely accepted," Hsu explains. "The increase of business uses and growth of shipment volume will in turn stimulate the development of key components and bring down production cost. As such, it is predicted that by 2018, shipment volume of smartglasses will reach 1 million units."

Accumulative Shipment Volume of Worldwide AR Smartglasses by Market Sector, 2015-2020 

Thousand Units

To see more about this report, please visit: Development Trends of Augmented Reality Smartglasses

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english