The Future of VR – Thoughts from an Enthusiast

Centre VR Director, Virtual Reality Gamer & Enthusiast Colin Parnell shares his thoughts about the future of VR.

The future for virtual reality is both interesting and very exciting.

AR and VR will almost certainly merge to become one technology (often now referred to as XTR) and we are seeing some headsets try to do both already. I see this like the smart phone and PDA technologies which are now just the one mobile device.

Most in the industry know that Apple have been working on VR for some time. They have bought several companies in the VR space, including one of my very favourite VR apps, Next VR. This app allowed streaming of 3D 180 degree video, in amazing clarity, with superb sound and features, that really makes you feel you are at an event. I think this is probably going to be quite crucial and possibly central to Apples VR vision.

Apple are likely to dramatically affect the VR industry in the same way they do with most of the areas they touch. My guess is that it will be the interface they create between humans and the virtual world that will do this.

They are likely to produce an expensive and amazing headset, but I believe it will be the OS, software, and built in features (like Next VR) that will set them apart from the current champions in the space, Meta, HTC and Sony.

I am not an Apple user, I prefer Android and Windows, but as a keen VR enthusiast and business owner in the space, I will be watching Apple’s entry carefully.

I am guessing that they will release in 2023, as there are many rumours surrounding their work. Especially around high fidelity, accurate, detailed AR and VR. As this is one of the hardest functions you can ask a computer to do. I think Apple have quite a few other priorities to work on right now. As usual, they will be late to the party (already are). But when they do join I predict you will see a huge difference in the market for Virtual Reality.

— Colin Parnell