We fell short of our Fall Fundraiser goal of 2,500 donations. Help us catch up ⏩ Give Now
An attendee uses a virtual reality headset to experience automotive safety at the Panasonic booth at CES 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images
Marketplace Tech Blogs

CES 2019: Virtual reality is not the star this year

Molly Wood Jan 10, 2019
An attendee uses a virtual reality headset to experience automotive safety at the Panasonic booth at CES 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images

CES is here. Tech heads from around the world have landed in Las Vegas for the largest big-gadget, media and entertainment tech show, and our own Molly Wood is on the ground. You can check out the third part of her Marketplace Tech dispatch below.


One trend this year is not virtual reality.

Both the Associated Press and CNET ran stories this week about how VR just doesn’t have any buzz this year.

And it’s true.

While a lot of booths have some kind of headset and VR experience, it’s almost like background noise, and that’s validation for those of us who always thought the promise seemed a lot farther away than the use case.

That said, I do plan to get producer Eve hooked up to a VR rig. (Make sure to check out my Instagram  for photos or videos!)

But it seems like — as predicted in previous episodes of Marketplace Tech — augmented reality is what’s pulling ahead in the short term. That’s because you can use AR for useful things right now, like seeing how furniture or art looks in your living room using your phone’s built-in camera. Augmented reality is also better technology for integrating into heads-up displays in cars. You could see maps or traffic obstacles right on the windshield.

Companies like NReal are showing off mixed-reality glasses that combine the real world with digital images overlaid on your vision. You could eventually use those for shopping and designing a room, playing games or watching a movie on a plane — without the complete isolation and inability to move safely.

To catch up on all things CES 2019, you can check out part 1 and part 2 of Molly Wood’s dispatches from Las Vegas.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.