Apple's Vision Pro has recently grabbed all the headlines in the spatial computing world, following years of hype and rumors of Apple bringing a headset to market. The Vision Pro is thought to be merely the opening salvo of the tech giant's strategy, with see-through augmented reality (AR) devices expected to be the endgame.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the world as we know it; from the success of DeepMind over Go world champion Lee Sedol in 2016 to the robust predictive abilities of OpenAI's ChatGPT, the complexity of AI training algorithms is growing at a startlingly fast pace, where the amount of compute necessary to run newly-developed training algorithms appears to be doubling roughly every four months.

IDTechEx have launched a new monthly podcast, 'Tomorrow's Tech by IDTechEx', bringing you up to date technology trends. In each episode our host will interview an industry expert from IDTechEx, offering insights into a range of emerging technologies.

In 2024, augmented reality headsets are now affordable enough that some average consumers received a pair last Christmas, yet they are unlikely to form the top fashion craze for the year. In 2013, Google Glass was the first commercial AR device to enter the public consciousness.

IDTechEx's market research report, "AI Chips for Edge Applications 2024-2034: Artificial Intelligence at the Edge", projects that the global AI chips market for edge devices will grow to US$22 billion by 2034, with the consumer electronics industry vertical taking the largest chunk of this revenue figure, at just over 45% by this date.

AR and VR (augmented and virtual reality) headsets are well on their way to establishing themselves as the next important category of computing devices. Mixed reality-capable VR headsets like Meta's Quest 3 and the upcoming Apple Vision Pro are demonstrating the true power of spatial computing. VR headsets for home gaming have sold by the million, while AR glasses have carved out a place in the industry.

Tuesday 5 December 2023 - Overview of how the changing XR device market has driven new requirements for XR optics; Outlook for the development of AR waveguide combiner industry, with key innovations highlighted; Analysis of the rapid rise of pancake lenses in VR and identification of the technologies that may replace them; Overview of the latest ten-year market forecasts for XR optics, predicting technological winners and the suitability of optics types for different segments of the XR device market

From blankets to towels to clothing to upholstery, humans are in contact with textiles for almost all their lives. Textiles, used for warmth, comfort, and aesthetics, can be combined with electronics to gain exciting new functionalities.

Spatial computing promises to transform the way we interact with our devices as computing goes truly 3D, with early signs of change already underway. While Apple's upcoming Vision Pro is bringing new excitement to this space, gaming-focused VR (Virtual Reality) headsets from companies including Meta, Sony, and Pico have sold millions of units, and AR (Augmented Reality) glasses from Vuzix, Microsoft, and more have found a valuable place in industry.

Wednesday 29 November 2023 - Outlines how the vergence-accommodation conflict is holding back XR from its full potential; Lays out the landscape of potential solutions in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets, from light field displays to geometric phase lenses; Compares these approaches by benchmarking on the promotion of social acceptability, manufacturing feasibility, and other factors to lay out the most likely path to integration of these technologies into immersive devices with mass appeal

Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR) headsets share, on the surface, 90% of the same component parts. However, two key technologies separate the former product category, which has sold in the millions on the consumer mass market, from the latter, which is yet to crack the mainstream market. Near-eye optics form one part of the puzzle, but display systems offer an equal challenge.

Tunneling magneto resistance sensors are rapidly disrupting the automotive and wearables industry. These tiny sensors leverage quantum phenomena to provide a performance edge over classical incumbents, including industry mainstays such as Hall effect sensors. Although they don't depend on the more exciting effects such as superposition and entanglement, in this article, IDTechEx highlights the lessons to be learned from the success of TMR sensors in the emerging quantum sensor market.

Wednesday 1 November 2023 - The state of the wearables market in 2023; Assessing the value proposition of combining AI with wearable data; Case studies across multiple form-factors - Smart watches - could AI unlock advanced medical monitoring applications?; Skin patches - is AI software the key to unlocking the consumer market for continuous glucose monitors?; Brain computer interfaces - will AI gift earphones with mind-reading powers? Outlook for the future: hype vs. reality

As reported by Nvidia's Q2 financial statement, its second-quarter data center's revenue was a record US$10.32 billion, up 141% from the previous quarter and up 171% from a year ago. With the increasing demand for high-performance servers in data centers, IDTechEx has seen challenges in data center thermal management and tremendous opportunities in this industry.

The road to fully autonomous vehicles is, by necessity, a long and winding one; systems that implement new technologies that increase the driving level of vehicles (driving levels being discussed further below) must be rigorously tested for safety and longevity before they can make it to vehicles that are bound for public streets.

In 2023, almost every VR device uses LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) to replace the real world with digital content, but a shift might be underway in 2024. Apple's Vision Pro is set to be one of the earliest VR devices to use OLED-on-Si technology, also known as micro-OLED, in a move to shrink headsets down whilst offering extremely high-quality images.

Wednesday 27 September 2023 - AI capabilities, and why these matter; Market revenue forecasts for AI chips at the edge up to and including 2034; Analyses relating to multiple key industry verticals, such as consumer electronics and automotive; Discussion of trends within these industry verticals.

Thursday 21 September 2023 - Seeing Is Believing: Exploring the Future of XR Display Technology - An introduction to how XR device types affect display requirements; Discussion of recent innovations in the XR display industry and their potential impacts on the future of XR devices; The bottlenecks and technology gaps holding back XR display development, with potential solutions identified; A roadmap for the development of the industry, with key player technologies highlighted

Since the introduction of Artificial Intelligence to the data center, AI has been loath to leave it. With large tracts of floorspace dedicated to servers comprising leading-edge chips that can handle the computational demands for training the latest in AI models, as well as inference via end-user connections to the cloud, data centers are the ideal environment for facilitating much of what AI has to offer.

Spatial computing promises to transform the way people interact with their devices as computing goes truly 3D, with early signs of change already underway. While Apple's upcoming Vision Pro is bringing new excitement to this space, gaming-focused VR (Virtual Reality) headsets from companies including Meta, Sony, and Pico have sold in the millions.