Believe me, I would love to chat with my parents living across the ocean over VR! I guess what I'm trying to say is this need would not be replaced with VR thou

Believe me, I would love to chat with my parents living across the ocean over VR! I guess what I'm trying to say is this need would not be replaced with VR though - it would be more of a necessity because of distance. I also think we vastly overestimate the number of people maintaining long-distance relationships (of any kind) beyond close relatives or friends on a daily (!) basis. I cannot back it up with numbers, but my gut is most friends and families (and workers) are still and will always be "local" enough. So, for occasional use when traveling etc. sure - this would be a killer app. I just don't think this would be as ubiquitous as phones for daily use - unless the technology is so seamless it doesn't occupy or need any more space or weight etc. and be as portable as a phone. So, if we're talking about mass adoption by the majority of the population for daily (as opposed to occasional) use, I just don't see VR in particular replacing phones anytime soon. AR on the other hand, could become more ubiquitous in that sense, if it can be worn casually and be looking "cool" enough to not warrant weird/dorky looks. But time will tell, I guess.