This week brought exciting news for the world of XR. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, released a report in collaboration with Deloitte estimating that the Metaverse could contribute 2.8% to the global GDP by 2031. The study also highlighted that the Metaverse can have a transformative influence on various industries such as retail, manufacturing, education, and healthcare. Additionally, Google released a new platform called Geospatial Creator for Unity that allows developers to preview 3D assets in the Unity Editor using Google Maps Platform’s ARCore and Photorealistic 3D Tiles. T-Mobile, Nokia, and Qualcomm achieved record 5G network speeds using uplink carrier aggregation on a live commercial 5G standalone network in the US. T-Mobile’s 5G accelerator program also included four immersive firms, namely FansXR, ForwARdgame, Ydrive, and Immersal, which look to innovate entertainment for sports and entertainment broadcasting. Furthermore, a recent study by KPMG UK discovered that younger UK consumers are more optimistic about the Metaverse than older consumers, indicating the potential for widespread adoption of the new technology trend in the coming years.
