By 2025, 65% of population in the UAE will be frequent AR users: Deloitte Study 

What to Read Next

1. Shoppers Have Low Tolerance for Errors in Holiday Ecommerce

2. Magnite Expands Audience Activation Solution to India, Southeast Asia

3. Jasper Launches AI Studio

4. Compulse Teams with Placements.io

Deloitte Digital and Snap Inc. have conducted a report to understand the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) details of which find a place in their report entitled Consumer Augmented Reality. 

The report, which evaluated responses from 15,000 consumers, including users from the US, UAE, KSA, shows that AR has the power to impact a business’ bottom line, not only driving customer connections but significantly driving conversions. The findings affirm AR’s role as the next frontier of mobile and digital engagement and identify how AR can help brands elevate their customer experience.

Currently, 67 per cent of consumers use AR primarily at home for functions including: communication (74 per cent), gaming (55 per cent), media and entertainment (52 per cent), and shopping (41 per cent). AR is used the most by consumers to bring joy to their lives, with 65 per cent noting they use AR to have fun. 

“As AR evolves, it will revolutionize our lives and become as significant of a technology shift as the web or mobile was to society, changing how we view and interact with the world around us,” said Allan Cook, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Digital Reality Business leader at Deloitte Digital. “The report shows that AR is really only in the beginning stages of being integrated in our everyday activities and is poised to make the journey from our cameras today to smart glasses tomorrow.”

Here is what we learned from the report; 

• Over 8 Million AR photos and / or videos are taken daily by consumers
• Branded AR experiences are 41 per cent more likely to be considered by consumers
• Nearly 3 in 4 consumers say they’re willing to pay more for a product that promises the transparency that AR can provide 
• 56 per cent agree AR gives them more confidence about product quality 
• Over half indicate they want to use AR technology to assess products, allowing for a risk free “try before you buy” experience

• AR delivers almost 2x the levels of visual attention compared to their non-AR equivalent
• Snapchatters who frequently use AR with their family and friends are 26% more likely to pay attention to a brand

Pandemic restrictions reinforced AR as a way to bridge between the physical and digital, and now worldwide spend on AR/VR is expected to accelerate from just over $12 billion this year to $72.8 billion in 2024. The report found that over half of consumers indicate COVID-19 has made AR digital experiences (56%) and tech innovations (59%) more important.