AR, VR, MR, XR: What are they and what’s the difference?

AR, VR, MR, XR explained: Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years. Just a few years ago we were talking about metaverse and digital world as futuristic concepts. And now, we are already using platforms — both hardware and software — that are turning these futuristic concepts into reality. A large part of the credit for this exponential evolution goes to tech companies that are launching headsets and other supported accessories and technologies that are blurring the lines between real and virtual worlds. The Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3 are just two of the more recent examples in this domain.

While on one hand, these platforms are transforming the way we interact with technology and consequently the world around us, they have also increased confusion among the masses wherein terms such as AR, VR, MR and XR are being used interchangeably. So, let’s clear all the confusion and understand what these terms mean and how are they different from one another.

AR or Augmented Reality

AR is essentially a technology that overlays digital content on top of the real world. Or in other words, it enables you to interact with the real world digitally. One of the easiest ways to understand AR is through the popular game, Pokemon Go, wherein players catch pokemon in the Pokemon Go app as they traverse through the real world. Another easy-to-understand example is that of Google Street View wherein the company adds interactive signals to navigate through a city within the Street View app or Google Maps. IKEA’s IKEA Place is another such app. It uses a smartphone’s camera and the angles of the walls and floor in a user’s home to project a 3D model of the furniture from its own store in the exact spot where they want to put.

VR or Virtual Reality

VR by definition is a technology that immerses a user in a virtual environment to create a 3D experience that seems as believable as the real world. It uses special headsets to create hyper-realistic experience in terms of sound, images, touch and other sensations that replicate a real-world environment or create an imaginary world.

Sony’s PlayStation VR2 and Meta’s Quest headsets are some of the more popular examples that immerse users in the virtual world. However, one caveat with this technology is that it is quite expensive, which makes it out of reach for a lot of people. Despite that, VR has created a strong foothold in the gaming industry, which in turn has enabled gamers to create deeply immersive gaming experiences.

MR or Mixed Reality

MR as the name suggests is a mix of both AR and VR. It captures the real-world through a series of cameras and sensors and then projects it on a display before users’ eyes through special MR headsets. To put it simply, in mixed reality, virtual objects are integrated into reality for new experiences, and it allows users to interact with objects in the real world via a simulation of the same in the virtual world.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset with all its floating menus and screens is a classic example of MR.

Image: Apple

XR or Extended Reality

XR is basically a blanket term that encompasses all of the above-mentioned technologies — AR, VR and MR. That said, while all of AR, VR and MR are XR, but not all of XR is AR or VR or MR. Qualcomm explains it as a 3D internet that users can access from any device, such as a laptop or a headset, to meet with friends and even work. One easy way to understand XR is via metaverse.