Global Smart Glasses Market by Product, OS, End-user, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2023-2027

The smart glasses market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.35% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 65.75 million. The growth of the market depends on serval factors, including the implementation of automation in the industrial sector, an increase in the number of crowdfunding campaigns, and the growing adoption of AR gaming by individuals.

This report extensively covers market segmentation by product (developer and commercial), OS (android, windows, and others), end-user (enterprise and individual), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America). It also includes an in-depth analysis of drivers, trends, and challenges. Furthermore, the report includes historic market data from 2017 to 2021.

What will be the size of the Smart Glasses Market During the Forecast Period?

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Parent Market Analysis

The reports categorize the global smart glasses market as a part of the global technology hardware, storage, and peripherals market within the overall global information technology market. The parent global technology hardware, storage, and peripherals market covers manufacturers of cellular phones, personal computers, servers, electronic computer components, and peripherals. It also includes data storage components, motherboards, audio and video cards, monitors, keyboards, printers, and other peripherals. Our research report has extensively covered external factors influencing the parent market growth during the forecast period.

Smart Glasses Market: Key Drivers, Trends, Challenges, and Customer Landscape

The implementation of automation in the industrial sector is notably driving market growth, although factors such as technical limitations and unattractive design may impede the market growth. Our researchers analyzed the data with 2022 as the base year, along with the key drivers, trends, and challenges. A holistic analysis of drivers will help companies refine their marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

Key Smart Glasses Market Driver

The implementation of automation in the industrial sector is notably driving the market growth. The automation of various processes in the manufacturing industry is reducing the need for human labour. Industries across the world are deploying automation solutions to carry out complex manufacturing processes. Industrial automation enables high efficiency, the predictive maintenance of machines, and good safety; it also increases profitability. The growing implementation of automation across industries is providing possible opportunities for the use of smart glasses in industrial automation.

Some smart glasses that are offered by the vendors, especially for industrial automation, include AGL Automation Ltd, a provider of process automation solutions, which announced a partnership with Epson to introduce augmented reality into its portfolio using Epson's Moverio BT-350 smart glasses. As the demand for industrial automation in factories rises, the need for smart glasses is expected to increase substantially, which will drive the growth of the global smart glasses market.

Key Smart Glasses Market Trend

The rise in the number of strategic partnerships and acquisitions is the key trend in the market. The number of strategic partnerships and acquisitions is rising in the market. Strategic partnerships and acquisitions enable vendors to improve their services, expand their geographic presence, strengthen their market position, and develop innovative products.

Some examples related to strategic partnerships and acquisitions include Vuzix Corporation, a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technology and products, which announced a strategic partnership with Rods and Cones, a provider of a fully virtual surgical collaboration platform. Through this partnership, Rods and Cones will incorporate Vuzix's M-Series Smart Glasses as an additional video-capturing device to support optimized remote interactions between surgeons and medical experts. 

Key Smart Glasses Market Challenge

Technical limitations and unattractive design is the major challenge impeding market growth. Smart glasses still have a long way to go in terms of miniaturization, display quality, 3D cameras, processing power, and field-of-view (FOV). Most devices that are available in the market have a FOV in the range of 20-25 degrees. Hence, users must stand 2-3 meters away when playing games such as RoboRaid as enemies disappear from view. A small FOV affects the gaming experience of users. Hence, high-quality 3D cameras and sensors are required to enhance the user experience. 

The unattractive design of smart glasses is adversely affecting their adoption among end-users, especially individual customers. For individual customers, physical appearance is the most important buying criterion, but the number of smart glasses that can be worn all day is limited. Factors like weight, thickness, battery life, performance, FOV, prescription lenses, eye position, and connectivity are considered when designing smart glasses. However, none of the existing vendors has incorporated all these factors in their smart glasses designs. Thus, these aforementioned factors may hamper the growth of the market in focus during the forecast period.

Key Smart Glasses Market Customer Landscape

The report includes the adoption lifecycle of the market, covering from the innovator’s stage to the laggard’s stage. It focuses on adoption rates in different regions based on penetration. Furthermore, the report also includes key purchase criteria and drivers of price sensitivity to help companies evaluate and develop their growth strategies.

Global Smart Glasses Market Customer Landscape

Who are the Major Smart Glasses Market Vendors?

Vendors are implementing various strategies, such as strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, geographical expansion, and product/service launches, to enhance their presence in the market.

3M Co. - The company offers smart glasses such as 3m securefit eye protection glasses. This segment also focuses on consumer bandages, braces, supports, and consumer respirators and cleaning products for the home. Additionally, the company focuses on advanced ceramic solutions, attachment tapes, films, sound and temperature management for transportation vehicles, and premium large-format graphic films for advertising and fleet signage under its transportation and logistics.

The report also includes detailed analyses of the competitive landscape of the market and information about 15 market vendors, including:

• Good Sky Electric Co. Ltd.
• Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
• Iristick NV
• MAD Gaze Ltd.
• Magic Leap Inc.
• Microsoft Corp.
• Nreal Ltd.
• Optinvent
• OXSIGHT Ltd.
• Seiko Epson Corp.
• Sony Group Corp.
• ThirdEye Gen Inc
• Toshiba Corp.
• Vuzix Corp.
• Xinology Co. Ltd.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of vendors has been conducted to help clients understand the wider business environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of key market players. Data is qualitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as pure play, category-focused, industry-focused, and diversified; it is quantitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as dominant, leading, strong, tentative, and weak.

What is the Fastest-Growing Segment in the Smart Glasses Market?

The market share growth of the developer segment will be significant during the forecast period. The developers of smart glasses are commonly called prosumers, and they could be prospective customers involved in the further design, manufacture, and development of smart glasses. The vendors in the market offer the developer version of smart glasses. Developers have an important role in creating AR hardware and software. The developer version of smart glasses enables developers to test them and recommend solutions to improve them further. Developer-version products are available in the form of a developer kit, which can be bought only by developers (not for commercial use). Currently, several vendors are generating revenues by selling developer-version products to individual developers. This will facilitate segment growth during the forecast period.

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The developer segment was valued at USD 28.44 million in 2017 and will continue to grow until 2021. There has been an increase in the demand for developer kits to develop AR technology as well as AR apps. Thus, an increase in the launch of developer kits for smart glasses will result in the development of a smart glasses ecosystem, new product development, the effective use of hardware components, and advances in appealing designs for smart glasses. Therefore, most of the vendors in the market first release the developer version of their products and then focus on their commercialization.

Which are the Key Regions for the Smart Glasses Market?

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North America is projected to contribute 61% by 2027. Technavio’s analysts have elaborately explained the regional trends and drivers that shape the market during the forecast period.

One of the major reasons for the dominance of North America in the market is that the region has always been at the forefront of the adoption of new technologies. This is because the region has some of the biggest crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter PBC (Kickstarter) and Indiegogo Inc. (Indiegogo). These platforms help startups in raising funds for the development of innovative products such as smart glasses. North America is a hub of major smart glasses OEMs such as Alphabet, Atheer Inc. (Atheer), Optinvent, Vuzix, and Microsoft. The country also benefits from products that are made available to US customers first. For instance, most startups introduce their products first in North America, specifically the US. This is attributed to the increased awareness of the potential benefits of using smart glasses in the region.

The market in North America was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, due to large-scale vaccination programs, the lockdown restrictions were eased. Shifting consumer preference for online shopping has created the opportunity for vendors in the market to expand product offerings on online sales channels. With uplifting the restrictions, the manufacturing united and offline sales channels were reopened, and the market gradually resumed as the demand for smart glass increased. The demand for smart wearable devices also increased, which, in turn, will positively impact the growth of the market in the region during the forecast period.

Segment Overview

The report forecasts market growth by revenue at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis of the latest trends and growth opportunities from 2017 to 2027. The market has been segmented by product (developer and commercial), OS (android, windows, and others), end-user (enterprise and individual), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America).

• Product Outlook (USD Million, 2017 - 2027)
  • Developer
  • Commercial

• OS Outlook (USD Million, 2017 - 2027)
  • Android
  • Windows
  • Others

• End-user Outlook (USD Million, 2017 - 2027)
  • Enterprise
  • Individual
• Region Outlook (USD Million, 2017 - 2027)
  • North America
    • The U.S.
    • Canada
  • Europe
    • U.K.
    • Germany
    • France
    • Rest of Europe
  • APAC
    • China
    • India
  • Middle East & Africa
    • Saudi Arabia
    • South Africa
    • Rest of the Middle East & Africa
  • South America
    • Brazil
    • Argentina

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What are the Key Data Covered in this Smart Glasses Market Report?

• CAGR of the market during the forecast period
• Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the smart glasses market between 2023 and 2027
• Precise estimation of the smart glasses market size and its contribution of the market in focus to the parent market
• Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behaviour
• Growth of the industry across North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America
• Thorough analysis of the market’s competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors
• Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of smart glasses market vendors

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