Spatial computing should already be rewriting how we work and play. Instead, it’s limping along, dragged down by clunky hardware and an industry that can’t decide what it wants to be.
Meta is the worst offender. First the metaverse was going to change everything. Then it wasn’t. It was all about VR headsets. Then AI. Now AR glasses again. It’s like watching a company try on Halloween costumes, hoping one gets applause. This constant flip flopping doesn’t inspire confidence, it tells developers and consumers alike not to adopt because, who knows if this is going to be around next year or not? Google, about to enter the market with AndroidXR, is already infamous for it’s graveyard. So long, Cardboard. Farewell Daydream.
Meanwhile, headsets remain sweaty, bulky face bricks (Big Screen Beyond excepted). Glasses are still fragile, underpowered prototypes. And every time momentum builds, it gets derailed by the next “pivot to AI.” The danger is clear, spatial computing risks becoming the boy who cried revolution.
Apple, for all its flaws, at least has conviction. The Vision Pro is absurdly overpriced and impractical, but it plants a flag, “this is the future, deal with it”. That kind of backbone matters. Without it, spatial computing stays in foggy demo land, forever the “year of VR” that never comes.
The industry doesn’t need more hype reels. It needs strength. Strength in hardware that’s actually wearable. Strength in platforms that don’t evaporate with the next quarterly wobble. Strength in leadership that picks a lane and sticks to it.
Until then, spatial computing isn’t the next smartphone moment. It will remain stuck in limbo. Too important to ignore, too undercooked to rely on…
