New Study Projects Mobile AR Revenue to Reach $36.26 Billion by 2026

ARtillery Intelligence publishes its five-year mobile AR outlook.

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LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2022: ARtillery Intelligence today released a new report that projects mobile AR annual revenue to grow from $12.45 billion in 2021 to $36.26 billion in 2026, a 23.8 percent compound annual growth rate. Entitled Mobile AR Global Revenue Forecast, 2021-2026, it dives deep into mobile AR revenue totals and subcategories – including consumer and enterprise spending.

Enterprise productivity is the leading revenue category in 2022 ($6.7 billion), followed by advertising & marketing ($4.1 billion) and commerce enablement ($1.5 billion). Advertising & Marketing will be the leading mobile AR revenue category by 2026 ($9.85 billion) as brands continue to recognize AR’s ability to demonstrate products in visually-immersive and conversion-boosting ways. AR commerce-enablement software will be driven by similar factors.

“Several of these mobile AR revenue categories represent what we call AR as a Service, which are SaaS-like offerings that enable companies to build AR experiences,” said ARtillery Intelligence Chief Analyst, Mike Boland. “This includes AR-guided enterprise productivity or consumer-facing experiences — an area we call B2B2C. In either case, AR ‘picks & shovels’ represent a considerable opportunity to meet demand for lower-friction AR experience creation and accelerated time-to-market.”

Much of mobile AR’s revenue growth is also driven by the large installed base of AR-enabled smartphones. This total continues to grow as smartphone replacement cycles phase in AR-capable devices. The greatest AR compatibility is estimated for web AR (3.15 billion units), followed by Meta’s Spark AR (2.86 billion units) and Apple’s ARkit (1.37 billion units). Among platforms, the most potential is held by Snap’s ongoing AR focus, TikTok’s early efforts, and Google Lens.

“TikTok is the wild card, with rapidly growing global usage but relatively underdeveloped AR,” said Boland. “Its recent AR creation platform, Effect House, will amplify its AR scale and monetization potential, just as creator platforms did for Snap and Meta. Visual search, led by Google Lens, will also gain ground in later years, driven by utility, frequency, and natural monetization – just like web search.”

Figures reflect market factors at the time of creation. Always see chart date for context, and refer to newer projections if applicable.

Report Availability

Mobile AR Global Revenue Forecast, 2021-2026 is available to ARtillery PRO subscribers, and more can be previewed here. This report follows ARtillery Intelligence’s separate examination of headworn AR and VR spending.

About ARtillery Intelligence

ARtillery Intelligence chronicles the evolution of spatial computing, otherwise known as AR and VR. Through writings and multimedia, it provides deep and analytical views into the industry’s biggest players, opportunities and strategies. Products include the AR Insider publication and the ARtillery PRO research subscription. Research includes monthly narrative reports, market-sizing forecasts, consumer survey data, and multimedia, all housed in a robust intelligence vault. Learn more here.