2022 will be the biggest year for the metaverse so far

[superadmin]

• 2022 is poised to be the biggest year for “the metaverse,” or software and hardware that allow users to play or work in virtual 3D spaces.
  
• Meta, Apple, Microsoft and Google all are gearing up to release new products.
  
• Apple is reportedly expected to announce a high-end headset that mixes virtual reality and augmented reality.
  

2022 is poised to be the biggest year yet for “the metaverse,” as Facebook parent Meta, Apple, Microsoft and Google gear up to release new hardware products and software services in what so far has been a niche market for early adopters.

The “metaverse” describes software and hardware that allow users to play or work in virtual 3-D spaces, or pull in information from the internet and integrate it with the real world in real time. For now, the metaverse might be accessed through a smartphone, but eventually, it will be experienced through advanced virtual reality or augmented reality headsets, backers say.

Big Tech companies are betting that gadgets that transport their users into enhanced or imaginary worlds will open up the biggest new market in software since Apple introduced the touchscreen smartphone in 2007. If the metaverse takes off, then perhaps everyone who has a smartphone today will also have a pair of computer glasses or a VR headset in a few years.


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