A Decade of Spatial Computing: 2016-2026
Ten years since I entered spatial computing. Reflecting on how the field evolved and where it's going.
Ten years ago this month, I joined Magic Leap. I knew nothing about AR/VR. A decade later, I've helped build systems used by millions and watched an industry mature.
The Arc of Spatial Computing
2016: Hype and Promise
- Magic Leap raising billions
- VR "Year of VR" (it wasn't)
- Pokémon Go hinted at consumer AR
- Technology not ready for mainstream
2018-2019: Reality Check
- Magic Leap One shipped (didn't transform the world)
- VR found niche in gaming
- Enterprise AR emerged
- Hardware limitations became clear
2020-2022: Pandemic Pivot
- Remote work drove VR adoption
- Quest 2 reached mass market
- Meta bet big on metaverse
- COVID accelerated digital transformation
2023-2024: Maturation
- Quest 3 achieved good enough MR
- Smart glasses returned (Ray-Ban Meta)
- Apple entered with Vision Pro
- Spatial computing became real, if not universal
2025-2026: Convergence with AI
- LLMs transformed what devices can do
- AI glasses more useful than AR glasses
- Multimodal AI understands space
- Computation moves to the edge
What Changed
Hardware: From prototype to consumer product. Weight, power, and cost improved dramatically.
Software: From research demos to production platforms. VPS, spatial anchors, hand tracking all work.
Use cases: From "anything is possible" to "these specific things work." Reality narrowed the vision.
Economics: From VC hype to sustainable business models. Hardware subsidized by software/services.
What Didn't Change
Human factors: People still don't want things on their face for long. Form factor remains the constraint.
Social norms: Wearing a headset in public is still weird. Cameras on glasses raise privacy concerns.
Killer app: Still waiting for the iPhone moment. Gaming is good but not transformative.
Personal Journey
2016: Junior engineer learning everything 2018: Leading perception for a shipping product 2020: Building at Meta scale 2024: Independent, applying expertise to new domains
The field grew, and I grew with it.
What's Next for Spatial
Prediction 1: AI makes glasses useful before AR does. Understanding scenes matters more than overlaying pixels.
Prediction 2: Spatial computing goes ambient. Less "strap this on" more "it's built in."
Prediction 3: The enterprise-consumer boundary blurs. Same devices, different apps.
Prediction 4: Privacy becomes the differentiator. Who you trust with spatial data matters.
Gratitude
To everyone who built this field alongside me:
- Magic Leap colleagues who shipped the impossible
- Meta teammates who scaled to millions
- The broader community pushing the frontier
Ten years of building. Looking forward to ten more.