Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Biometrics Represent Key Growth Opportunities
User Interface technologies have moved beyond the concept of simply representing machines to their users to enabling sophisticated and personalized interaction. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated their use in healthcare, manufacturing, education, retail, and banking to simplify interactivity and improve engagement. This report aims to help companies understand the future of user interfaces, encompassing the technologies and mindsets that influence their adoption, and the most likely growth opportunities.
Global augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) market revenue is expected to reach $661.4 billion by 2025, increasing at an astounding compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 86.3% from 2019 to 2025 with AR applications in manufacturing, education/training, and automotive seeing huge growth. Beyond 2030, AR and VR will eventually merge, allowing users access to the total reality-virtuality continuum.
Global biometrics market revenue is forecast to reach $54.97 billion in 2025, registering a strong CAGR of 19.6% from 2019. Rapid adoption in the financial sector is providing traction for the integration of biometrics in major market verticals. Multimodal biometrics is expected to be a growth opportunity because it ensures resilience to data thefts and counterfeit. Next-generation identification, palm vein, and behavioral biometrics will see significant demand.
A number of promising opportunities exist in the brain-machine interface industry in the next decade, especially in the field of gaming and consumer electronics. Healthcare will continue to be the major focus as more emerging technologies become available. Opportunities will continue to grow for wearable sensors for healthcare that are configured in smartwatches or armbands. Over the next 5 years, wearable healthcare sensing devices will be commercialized in configurations such as skin patches and electronic skin.
To sustain the growth of new user interface technologies, a supporting ecosystem of experts is needed to create shared platforms in the infrastructure network. New interfaces require powerful computing capabilities. In the medium term, neuromorphic computing approaches will be employed in training or running machine learning algorithms in both cloud servers and on-device applications. The first commercial general-purpose quantum computers are expected to appear in the 2030s. For futuristic user interfaces to become ubiquitous, device security and user privacy become critical. Organizations must prioritize cybersecurity, business continuity plans, and risk assessments.
