Top Trends for 2025: How VR & AR is Shaping the Future

VR tech never stops evolving. Valued at $16.8B in 2023, the VR and AR market is expected to be worth over $230B by 2032. In 2025, next-gen VR devices will hit the market, incorporating features like generative AI, machine learning, haptic feedback and 5G connectivity. 

As people harness its potential, boundaries of what’s possible will be pushed and entire industries will be reshaped.

Let’s take a look at how VR will cement its place as the cornerstone tech driving change in 2025.

The relentless advancement in graphical processing brings realistic environments to life. Engines like Unity and Unreal 5 enable developers to build incredible virtual worlds. Meanwhile, the hardware itself is getting smaller, faster and more capable.

Modern motion sensors and cameras accurately capture our movements, while controllers, gloves and suits with haptic feedback bridge the virtual and physical gap. From gaming to education and healthcare to engineering, we can immerse ourselves in the digital worlds we create. 

In 2025, we expect to live them better than ever. That could mean feeling the bullet impact in the latest Call of Duty game, training ‘hands-on’ with an accurately recreated jet engine, or navigating a virtual hotel at a travel conference.

AI and machine learning are not just the future, they’re now. AI-powered VR and AR have the potential to be the biggest immersive tech trends of the 2020s. Harnessing incredible processing power enables environments, tasks or experiences to adapt for the user in real-time. 

For example, virtual environments can be optimised through enhanced ray tracing and rendering to increase detail and fidelity. Real-world objects can be identified and segmented to improve how they interact with their virtual counterparts, and tasks or experiences can be adjusted for difficulty or complexity based on the user. 

To improve personalisation, facial and voice recognition, combined with Natural Language Processing, could identify human users and respond to audio or visual cues as they happen. This will make AR/VR indispensable across a range of industries.

Imagine a virtual world where NPCs react to the same stimuli as humans do, and a living environment adapts to our actions and behaviours. Industries such as healthcare, engineering, retail, manufacturing, and entertainment can be revolutionised.

A retail assistant could guide customers to the products they want, making recommendations based on their preferences. We’ve already seen AR used in virtual try-on tech to find that perfect dress or sharp suit, but what if an AI stylist could provide fashion advice at the same time? 

55% of online clothing shoppers have returned an item because it didn’t look how they expected. In the UK in 2023, that accounted for £4.1B of returned clothing. Alongside providing a great customer experience, retailers may embrace VR and AR as a way to reduce costs and increase profit.

VR will find a home in engineering and manufacturing, and Fortune Business Insights forecasts that the global VR education industry will be worth $65.6B by 2032.

An instructor could provide real-time correction and feedback during a training session without even being in the room. Complex processes can be experimented with and simplified. Expensive parts can be saved. Maintenance schedules can be optimised. Pilots can fly in challenging conditions and react to simulated events.

In healthcare situations, a 2023 study published in Clinical Simulation in Nursing found nurses trained via VR performed better than those trained on real patients. VR for healthcare provides all of the benefits with none of the risks.

Interactive environments and engaging content are set to transform education. Historical events, buildings, and battlefields can be brought to life, offering students immersive learning experiences. Imagine children exploring the animals of Africa on a virtual safari… where even the sound of a well-timed cough could startle the animals. In the virtual classroom, hands-on science experiments allow students to put theory into practice, empowering them to learn by doing.

Additionally, virtual open days and tours are reshaping the way prospective students engage with educational institutions. With VR, students can explore campuses remotely, taking virtual walks through lecture halls, libraries, and student spaces, all from the comfort of their homes. This eliminates geographical barriers, enabling universities to attract a global audience and giving students an accessible way to choose their next academic home.

But none of this will be possible without VR and AR devices becoming mainstream, enabling a fully immersive, interactive learning environment.

The 2010s saw VR headsets like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Sony PS VR transform gaming – for a select few. Although big, clunky and processor-heavy, they gave us a glimpse of the future. 

In 2025, smaller, lighter and wireless VR/AR devices will become commonplace. 2024 saw the global smart glasses market valued at $1.93B, with an expected CAGR of 27.3% between now and 2030.

Smart glasses such as the Viture Pro XR, Lenovo Legion Go or Ray-Ban Meta Skyler are both affordable and subtle. The Apple Vision Pro headset, while hardly sleek (or cheap), promises ‘spatial computing’ for entertainment, working and communication anywhere.

We expect businesses and consumers to embrace the new tech en masse, especially as new communication infrastructure widens our horizons.

5G isn’t new. VR isn’t either. But bringing the two together will be a big trend in 2025. 

VR devices are processor-heavy, power-hungry and data-reliant. Latency ruins VR and AR experiences, and in situations where real-time collaboration is needed, communication and instant feedback are essential. 

Split rendering using 5G networks and cloud-based services is the answer.

The heavy lifting of VR tech can be done using cloud processing, but it needs a reliable and fast connection to transmit the data. Likewise, the user’s actions and inputs need to go in the other direction at the same speed. 

With split rendering, users get the seamless and high-fidelity VR experience they expect, but with the portability and connectivity that a smaller device brings. Virtual collaborations, remote training and next-level entertainment are all possible.

Web AR is an emerging and growing VR tech that we predict will increase adoption throughout 2025 and beyond. Instead of downloading an app or buying hardware, AR can be experienced directly through a browser. Because it uses standard web technologies like HTML, JavaScript and CSS, there are virtually no barriers to entry for users and fewer risks for developers.

This could be transformative for businesses. For example, marketers could include a QR code on their assets and take customers to product demos and other engaging content. Travel companies could provide virtual hotel tours or architects could provide building walkthroughs. 

Event organisers can provide additional content for in-person attendees, increase reach to those joining online, and ensure their events are inclusive for everyone.

Inclusive VR solutions will continue to grow in 2025. VR already brings many inclusivity benefits by breaking down physical barriers and allowing those less mobile to experience the world. Likewise, people with additional needs, who are neurodivergent or have health concerns can benefit from tailored experiences.

That said, VR is still heavily reliant on senses such as sight, sound and touch, as well as cognition. Innovations in VR that are already making it more inclusive include:

• Customisable controllers and interfaces 
• Voice recognition 
• Captioning and transcription
• Haptic feedback
• Audio descriptions
• Accessible visuals for the partially sighted

We expect further technology and innovation to make AR and VR accessible for everyone in the coming years. Experiential design is critical.

While hardware is important, we expect designers to incorporate inclusivity and accessibility into their virtual creations. Environments may be made to support those with visual impairments, and minorities will be better represented in virtual worlds. 

At the same time, VR may be used for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Training, allowing able-bodied or neurotypical people to experience the world from a different perspective.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that many meetings could be calls and that many calls could be emails. In-person meetings and events, business travel and training days could be done remotely. With this, money could be saved and our carbon footprints reduced.

In 2025, VR will continue that trend and bring those events to life. Instead of staring at a grid of faces on a Teams call, we can be present in the ‘room’. We could get up to draw on a digital whiteboard, demonstrate a product or physically take part in a group training session.

Likewise, instead of an entire team travelling to a manufacturing plant or depot, we could take a VR tour. Rather than encouraging people to travel to a conference, we can make the entire event virtual.

Many virtual reality trends in 2025 will continue from years before. We expect to see increasingly detailed environments that use the latest processing and rendering tech, machine learning and generative AI will transform these worlds and make them truly immersive.

Retailers will reap the financial and reputational benefits of offering their customers the best possible experiences while industry leaders and academic institutions will see their training and education offerings transformed. At the same time, new communication tech will allow VR and AR experiences to be accessible to everyone no matter where they are or the needs they have.

Businesses and organisations of all sizes can benefit from adopting VR solutions to keep them ahead of the competition and offer the best customer experiences. Contact us today to find out how we can help you, or explore our latest work for inspiration.