extended reality

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extended reality (countable and uncountable, plural extended realities)

1. The technologies augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR).

   Synonym: XR (initialism)

   • 2019 January 5, Lauren Goode, “Get Ready to Hear a Lot More About 'XR'”, in Wired‎^[1]:

     “XR” has been used to describe some sort of visual extension of reality for decades. It has referred to cross reality, and also, extended reality. Wearable computing researcher and inventor Steve Mann has used the phrase “mediated reality” in the past; more recently he has proposed the term “*R”, with an asterisk, to signal all mediated realities. In a white paper published last April, Mann notes that photographer Charles Wyckoff filed a patent for an “XR” film back in the 1960’s, “which allowed people to see nuclear explosions and other phenomena beyond the range of normal human vision.”

   • 2023 June 5, Kellen Browning, quoting Jeff Fieldhack, “Apple Debuts Its Next Big Product, a Virtual Reality Headset”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Apple could also vault to the forefront of the XR market — a term for extended reality, similar to virtual reality, Mr. Fieldhack said.

   • 2023 June 6, Ian Bogost, “The Age of Goggles Has Arrived”, in The Atlantic‎^[3]:

     Still more are selling headsets for “extended reality” (XR), a name that seems to indicate nothing more than a desire to avoid choosing between AR and VR.

• spatial computing
• metaverse