In other words, there will continue to be lots of chatter about the metaverse and virtual (augmented, mixed, whatever-you-want-to-call-dorky-looking) goggles in 2023, but it most likely still won’t be the year that these headsets become widely popular, said Carolina Milanesi, a consumer tech analyst for the research firm Creative Strategies.
“From a consumer perspective, it’s still very uncertain what you’re spending your thousand bucks on when you’re buying a headset,” she said. “Do I have to do a meeting with V.R.? With or without legs, it’s not a necessity.”
3. Electric cars beyond Tesla
Tesla continued to dominate electric vehicle sales this year, but 2023 may prove to be a turning point for the industry. Tesla’s shares have plunged this year, and its brand has taken a beating since Mr. Musk’s takeover of Twitter. At the same time, competition in the market is intensifying as E.V. makers like Ford Motor, Kia, General Motors, Audi and Rivian ramp up production of their electric cars.
Also, Tesla said in November that it would open up its charging connector design to other electric cars. That would enable drivers of other types of cars to replenish their batteries at Tesla’s charging stations, which are far more prolific than other types of chargers.
On top of that, both California and New York have moved to ban sales of gas-powered cars by 2035. This all adds up to a perfect storm for the electric car industry to become much bigger than one brand in 2023.
4. More options for social media
Twitter was in chaos for much of 2022, and this will most likely continue this coming year. In response to the backlash, Mr. Musk asked his followers on Twitter in a “poll” this month whether he should step down as the company’s leader. A majority, roughly 10 million users, voted yes, but Mr. Musk said he would step down only after finding someone “foolish enough to take the job.”
TikTok, too, is in hot water after ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, said an internal investigation found that employees had inappropriately obtained the data of U.S. users, including that of two journalists. The revelation puts pressure on the Biden administration to consider more extreme restrictions for the app in the United States.
