Digital Authentication and the Phygital Shift
The most practically significant technology development in art toys right now is digital authentication — embedding verifiable proof of authenticity in or with physical figures. QR codes, NFC chips, and blockchain-based certificates of authenticity are all being explored by major art toy brands as ways to solve the counterfeit problem and create a persistent digital record of ownership that travels with the figure through the secondary market.
NFC chip embedding in particular is an interesting development. When a figure contains a chip that can be tapped with a smartphone to verify authenticity, pull up its ownership history, and connect to associated digital content, the physical object gains a new layer of functionality without losing any of its physical character. The chip doesn't change what the figure looks like or feels like; it adds a digital dimension that is useful but not required.
The blockchain-based ownership record is more conceptually interesting than practically necessary for most collectors, but it solves a specific problem in high-value secondary market transactions: establishing clear provenance without relying on paperwork that can be fabricated. For figures that trade at significant secondary market premiums, the ability to verify chain of custody digitally is genuinely valuable, and some institutional auction houses are beginning to treat digital provenance records as part of standard documentation for significant lots.
AR, Digital Companions, and Extended Experiences
Augmented reality experiences tied to physical figures are the most consumer-facing technology development the category has seen. The basic implementation — point your phone at a figure and see it animate, access exclusive digital content, or unlock virtual items in an associated game — has been attempted by several brands with mixed results. The experiences that work best are those where the digital layer genuinely extends the physical object rather than simply existing as a proof-of-concept.
Pop Mart and similar brands have experimented with app experiences that connect physical figures to digital content: behind-the-scenes development documentation, animated character stories, and virtual display environments where you can arrange digital versions of your figures. The engagement levels for these features tend to be lower than initial excitement suggests — most collectors are primarily interested in the physical object, and digital extensions feel like extras rather than core experiences.
The most promising application of AR in the art toy space is probably visualisation tools for collectors — apps that let you see how a figure would look in your space before buying, or that help you plan and visualise display arrangements across your collection. This is a practical utility that addresses a genuine collector need rather than an entertainment experience that competes with the physical object itself.
Digital Collectibles: Lessons from the NFT Moment
The NFT moment of 2021-2022 sent several major toy and collectible brands rushing to create digital versions of their IP. The results were almost universally disappointing relative to expectations, and the art toy category's experience with digital collectibles mirrors the broader NFT market story: significant initial enthusiasm, rapid market correction, and a landscape of projects with small but committed residual communities.
What the NFT moment revealed about art toy collectors is instructive: they are attached to physical objects in ways that digital assets cannot replicate. The value of a Labubu figure is not separable from the experience of looking at it on a shelf, holding it, and having it present as a physical thing in your space. A digital file representing the same character can be interesting as supplementary content but doesn't substitute for the physical experience.
This doesn't mean digital collectibles have no future in the art toy space — it means the ones that work will serve functions that complement rather than compete with physical collecting. Limited digital content bundled with physical figures, digital certificates that enhance rather than replace physical provenance, and interactive experiences that use the physical figure as an access key to digital content are all viable models. Pure digital art toy collectibles that compete directly with physical figures on the same register are not.
What Actually Matters for the Next Five Years
Cutting through the technology speculation, the developments that will most materially affect art toy collectors in the next five years are unglamorous but important. Better authentication systems will reduce counterfeit risk and improve secondary market trust. Improved logistics and inventory technology will make retail distribution more efficient and reduce the artificial scarcity that currently drives some secondary market premiums. Digital community tools will create richer and more persistent collector communities that sustain engagement between physical purchases.
Manufacturing technology improvements are worth watching, particularly developments in materials science and production processes that allow new physical experiences without compromising the tactile qualities collectors value. Translucent materials, complex internal structures, and innovative surface treatments are all areas where manufacturing innovation is creating new design possibilities that weren't available even five years ago.
The most durable technology trend in the art toy space is simply the continued improvement of social media and community tools that support collector culture. The platforms that host collector communities, the tools for documenting and sharing collections, and the systems for connecting buyers and sellers in the secondary market are all evolving in ways that make collecting more social, more accessible, and more enjoyable. This unspectacular infrastructure improvement is more important to the daily experience of collecting than any amount of AR, NFT, or blockchain development.