What to expect from mixed reality at CES 2025

At CES 2025, expect mixed reality to have a strong presence on the show floor, but not necessarily from the major players like Apple or Meta. Here, Adam Simon, managing director of IPG Media Lab, outlines how MR can elevate branded experiences and reshape consumer expectations, making it worthy of investment, experimentation, and partnerships.

With CES 2025 less than a month away, educated guesses on what we’ll see on the show floor in Vegas have started to float around. Putting aside the intense buzz around AI and self-driving cars, mixed reality (MR) will likely continue to have a sizable presence on the show floor, especially after what turned out to be a banner year for the category.

MR encompasses a spectrum of immersive experiences ranging from augmented reality (AR) to fully immersive virtual reality (VR). These experiences often take the form of headsets or smart glasses to deliver entertainment, games, productivity, and other spatial computing experiences. With major technology companies competing for dominance, and a growing interest in its applications, the MR market is set to grow from an estimated $4.0bn in 2024 to $26.2bn by 2029, per estimates from Mordor Intelligence.

Looking back, MR started 2024 with a bang, as Apple announced the on-sale date for its Vision Pro headset at CES 2024 and proceeded to roll out its high-end headset to select retail stores in the following months. Aiming to broaden the gaming and entertainment use cases that existing MR devices cover, Vision Pro also tackles computing tasks like productivity, media creation, and communication. It runs on visionOS, an operating system that benefits from Apple’s robust app ecosystem, including popular services like FaceTime, Safari, and Messages, as well as a small but growing collection of 2D and immersive applications created by third-party brands and indie developers.

For example, Nexus Studios created a Vision Pro app to promote the latest installment in the Kung Foo Panda franchise. The visionOS app features an immersive environment to watch the trailer in, as well as a guided tai chi session in which you copy the movements of the panda master Po, who reacts to how well you’re following his moves. This type of immersive at-home entertainment demonstrates the power of MR to go beyond passive viewing.

Thanks to Apple’s brand halo effect, the launch of Vision Pro brought significant attention to the MR sector and set a high bar for immersive experiences. Although Apple historically does not show up at CES in any official capacity, chances are that Vision Pro is still the gold standard to which people will be comparing all the MR headsets.

Besides Apple, another major stakeholder in the MR space is Meta. In late September, the Zuckerberg-led company clarified its approach to MR at its 2024 Connect event. Previewed as the pinnacle of MR hardware, its Orion glasses feature a 70-degree field of view and support voice commands, eye-tracking, and a neural wristband for gesture control, among other inputs. With each unit costing around $10,000 to produce, though, Orion is far from ready for mass-market adoption and is being pitched as an internal development platform.

Still, by showing off this working prototype, Meta indicated it is determined to attract developers and build a foundational ecosystem of MR applications that will be ready when the hardware eventually becomes commercially viable. CES might just be another occasion Meta can leverage to remind developers (and the larger tech sphere) of its MR platform ambitions.

On the more practical end of the spectrum, Meta’s latest Ray-Ban smart glasses have been a surprise consumer hit, reportedly outselling traditional Ray-Bans in some stores. The latest iteration includes real-time AI video processing and live language translation, making it an audio-first wearable assistant. Meta also announced a ten-year extension to its partnership with Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxxotica, indicating that a future Orion product will likely carry the Ray-Ban brand and be distributed through its enormous retail footprint, which includes Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters. Even if Meta doesn’t have a dedicated MR booth at CES, expect to see Ray-Ban glasses popping up in some capacity, perhaps through third-party partners, on the show floor.

Looking beyond the current leaders in MR hardware, recent announcements from companies like Snap and Samsung continue to evolve the dynamic MR market. Snap has made a significant push into MR hardware with its latest iteration of Snap Spectacles, enabling users to interact with a built-in AI assistant directly through the glasses. But Snap’s hardware remains nascent, with a narrow field of view and limited battery life, making it more of a prototype than a viable consumer device. Still, Snap’s developer-centric approach may help build out applications and use cases that drive future adoption. The company has had limited CES presence in the past, but don’t be surprised if they pop up again this year to corral developers.

Meanwhile, Samsung is aiming to give Meta a run for its money with its upcoming MR glasses, which are being developed in collaboration with Google, and reportedly share  some features with the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, including the Qualcomm’s AR1 chipset. Google, for its part, announced Android XR as its software equivalent to Apple’s visionOS to power the forthcoming Samsung smart glasses. While it is reportedly scheduled for late-2025 launch, we could see Samsung, a company that historically has a sizable presence at CES, use the event as a platform to preview its own take on AR glasses.

Besides Samsung, smaller players in the MR hardware space — including HTC and Xiaomi, not to mention the many MR startups in Eureka Park — will likely continue to showcase the latest iteration of their VR headsets. Their biggest competitor remains the Meta Quest lineup, especially since Meta is already putting its latest Quest 3 headsets on sale for the holidays.

MR is already proving to be a transformative platform that innovative brands can use to redefine customer experiences. For instance, J.Crew’s virtual closet experience for Vision Pro leverages mixed reality to transform how customers engage with fashion. Users can view clothing items on 3D mannequins placed in realistic virtual settings, allowing for a more lifelike sense of texture, color, and fit. Similar immersive shopping experiences are also being tested by the likes of Lowe's and StockX. Expect to see more MR experiences being showcased at CES next month to demonstrate its broadening use cases.

With the accelerating development in hardware and the growing integration of AI tools to streamline content creation, forward-thinking companies should consider experimenting with MR in ways that establish them as leaders in this emerging space. Brands willing to invest early will be well positioned to develop unique, immersive experiences that engage consumers, wherever they are.