According to the Worldwide Augmented and Virtual Reality Spending Guide published by International Data Corporation (IDC), European augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) spending will reach $8.4 billion by 2027, reflecting a 22.4% five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR). AR/VR Spending Europe

Following the launch of the Apple Vision Pro and the new Meta Quest 3, VR is forecast to grow slightly faster than AR and will account for most of the AR/VR spending worldwide.

“European companies remain skeptical about the economic outlook, as persisting high inflation, labor shortages across some industries and the prolonged impact on prices continue to threaten businesses’ performance,” says Barbora Pavlikova, research analyst with IDC Data and Analytics, Europe. “Nonetheless, organizations are increasing IT budgets to help them continue navigating the economic headwinds. Many companies plan to allocate budgets to AR and VR with a view to differentiating themselves from competitors, offering innovative products suitable for hybrid workplaces, and enabling tech-driven customer experience.”

Discrete manufacturing, transportation, and process manufacturing will be the industries spending the most on AR in 2024. Production-driven industries like manufacturing will leverage AR for asset maintenance, remote communication, and training purposes. By allowing even the most complex tasks to be streamlined in real time, AR contributes to the optimization of processes across the value chain. In the B2B space, AR spending in the central government sector will be the fastest next year, thanks to the deployment of AR solutions in Smart City projects. Augmented maintenance is the most popular use case for AR, but the growing demand for AR games in the consumer segment will make this the fastest-growing AR use case by 2027. AR/VR Spending Europe

On the VR side, retail will be the highest-spending commercial industry. Online retail showcasing has revolutionized the customer shopping experience and will come into focus again after retailers shifted their focus from customer experience (CX) to profitability and cost containment in the previous year. Innovations like allowing customers to interact with virtual 3D products prior to purchasing and to customize products from home have significantly boosted consumer interest. The recent launch of the Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest 3, and the Bigscreen Beyond will further push spending in VR, and all industries covered in the Spending Guide will post a double-digit CAGR over the five-year period. In the commercial segment, training will be the most popular use case in the coming year. Technology advancements, remote team needs, and hybrid workplaces will push investments in VR-enabled collaboration, which will be the fastest-growing VR use case by 2027.

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