Augmented Reality vs. Virtual Reality

What is the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality?

As electronics and automation continue to advance, both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become increasingly popular in gaming, business and everyday life. Yet for some, the similarities shared between these two immersive technologies can make it difficult to tell them apart. So, exactly what is AR? What is VR? And how are they different?

In actuality, AR and VR both represent two distinct paradigms in the realm of digital experiences, each with its own strengths and capabilities. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or simply curious about the future of digital interaction, we will shed a light on this often misunderstood distinction and offer a comprehensive exploration of the technology, uses and transformative potential of both AR and VR.

AR is a technology that overlays digital information, such as images, videos or 3D models, onto the real-world environment, which is typically viewed through an AR device like a smartphone, tablet, AR headset or AR glasses. Unlike VR technology, which completely immerses users in a computer-generated environment, AR enhances the real world by adding virtual elements to it. Key characteristics of augmented reality include:

Real-world integration. AR technology blends digital content with the physical world, letting you see your real surroundings and virtual elements at the same time.
Interaction. You can often interact with the virtual elements, allowing you to tap on objects in an AR app to trigger actions and gain information.
Contextual information. Context-specific information about objects, places or people can be provided by overlaying data or graphics on them, which is particularly useful in navigation and educational tools.

By blending the real and digital worlds together, AR is set to revolutionize industries like healthcare, education and remote work.^1,2 This will hopefully enable professionals to collaborate across distances and students to engage in interactive, experimental learning.

What is virtual reality?

Unlike AR, VR technology creates a fully immersive, computer-generated world that doesn’t incorporate the real-world environment. Instead, you can interact with a 3D, artificial world that simulates physical environments. Typically wearing a specialized VR headset that covers the eyes and ears, motion tracking sensors monitor your head movements, allowing you to look around and explore. Key characteristics of virtual reality include:

Enveloping environment. Replacing the perception of physical surroundings with a virtual environment, VR transports you to a completely digital world.
Realistic interaction. You can interact with objects and elements within the virtual environment using specialized controllers or hand tracking, creating a sense of presence and engagement.
Sensory feedback. Some advanced VR systems and virtual headsets incorporate haptic feedback devices, gloves or suits that further enhance the sense of captivation.
Gaming capabilities. Virtual reality gaming allows players to step into the worlds of their favorite games and experience them in a new way.

Whether it’s for gaming, professional training simulations, virtual tourism or therapeutic applications, VR has the potential to offer deeply entrancing and interactive experiences. VR is expected to become increasingly more sophisticated and accessible, potentially transforming the way we learn, communicate and entertain ourselves in the future.See Disclosure ³

The differences between virtual and augmented reality

As you can see, VR and AR both use immersive mechanics, but they differ in how they integrate digital content in the real world. These two cutting-edge technologies offer distinct ways of interacting with the digital universe. Fundamental differences between VR and AR include:

VR creates a fully computer-generated environment instead of blending virtual elements with the physical world like AR.
VR attempts to make you feel transported into another dimension, but AR simply enhances virtual elements without fully replacing your perception of reality.
VR requires headsets while AR can be experienced through various devices with transparent displays.
VR experiences often require more powerful hardware and computing components than AR.

VR is also typically used for PC gaming, simulations and entertainment instead of being widely used in education, navigation, retail and healthcare like AR. However, if you want to experience how VR is currently used in digital commerce, you should consider shopping in the Best Buy virtual store, a 40,000-square-foot virtual shop with online experts standing by to help.

Reshaping reality for the future

Augmented reality and virtual reality represent two distinct approaches to immersive technology, each with its own set of characteristics and applications. AR enhances the real world by overlaying digital content onto it and encourages interaction with the physical environment. VR, on the other hand, completely exposes you to entirely digital settings, isolating you from the real world. As these two technologies continue to advance and become more accessible, they hold the potential to change various industries, improve everyday life and reshape our perception of reality itself.

References

1. Grobman, Ari. “Augmented Reality Is Already Changing Healthcare for the Better.” Forbes Technology Council, Forbes Media LLC. September 12, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/09/12/tips-for-implementing-safe-across-engineering-organizations/?sh=48eea60170cb.

2. Fourtane, Susan. “Augmented Reality: The Future of Education.” Interesting Engineering, Inc. April 22, 2019. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/augmented-reality-the-future-of-education.

3. Mileva, Gergana. “The Future Is Now: 2023 Metaverse and XR Predictions Worth Looking Into.” ARPost, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality News. February 6, 2023. https://arpost.co/2023/02/06/2023-metaverse-xr-predictions/.