What is extended reality (XR)?

What the term covers

Standards and government bodies describe XR in similar terms. ETSI published a technical report on XR in 5G by the mobile standards group 3GPP in November 2020. 3GPP applies the term to all environments that combine real and virtual elements through computers and wearables, along with the human-machine interaction involved. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) describes three forms:

• Virtual reality (VR) shuts out the real world and immerses the user in a digital environment through a head-mounted display.
• Augmented reality (AR) lays digital content over a view of the real environment on a smartphone, tablet or AR glasses.
• Mixed reality (MR) uses a dedicated headset that recognizes its surroundings, so digital content and the real world can interact.

The same GAO overview, published in January 2022, listed cybersecurity and privacy risks, motion sickness and harassment in immersive environments among the challenges.

How it works

3GPP says XR devices have one thing in common: some degree of spatial tracking, which shapes how virtual content is shown to the user. Tracking is described in degrees of freedom. Three (3DoF) covers rotation only, as when a seated user looks around. Six (6DoF) adds movement up and down, side to side, and forward and back.

The Khronos Group says that before OpenXR, developers had to write separate proprietary code for each device on the market. It describes OpenXR as a royalty-free open standard that provides a common set of programming interfaces. It lists Meta, Microsoft, HTC, Sony, Valve and Google among companies with conformant products.

Where things stand in 2026

Google announced Android XR on December 12, 2024. It said the operating system for headsets and glasses was created in collaboration with Samsung. Google calls Samsung's Galaxy XR headset the first device built on Android XR and gave its price as $1,799. Samsung said it would be available from October 21, 2025 in the United States and October 22 in South Korea.

Market researcher IDC describes a shift from headsets to glasses. IDC counts smart glasses with or without displays in its XR figures. It reported 44.4% shipment growth in 2025 even as VR and MR headset shipments declined sharply. For the second quarter of 2026, IDC said display-less audio glasses made up 70.3% of shipments, headsets 15.4% and glasses with displays 14.3%. Meta held 68.7% of the market, it said.