Virtual reality (VR) device shipments will reach nine million units this year. This number is attributed to strong pre-order sales of PlayStation VR.
This is according to a recent TrendForce report which estimates PlayStation (PS) VR will overwhelm its competitors this year, taking 67% of the global VR device market to about 6 million units shipped.
If the branded vendors are able to ensure sufficient supply, TrendForce forecasts shipments of VR devices (excluding mobile-based products) will grow at a CAGR of 53.5% from 9 million units this year to 50 million units in 2020.
The report further reveals Sony made its widely anticipated PS VR available for pre-order this month following the releases of HTC's Vive and Oculus's Rift.
"So far, the market reception towards PS VR has been very good as Japan and several other regions have reported that their pre-order shipments were sold out immediately after the announcement," says the global market research firm.
Jason Tsai, wearable device analyst for TrendForce, says while sales from various branded vendors have been brisk; this year's VR device shipments will be mainly influenced by the supply side of the market.
"Branded vendors were overly conservative in stocking up their inventories before the market releases of their products. They are now seeing the product demand far outstripping the supply and will have to adjust their inventories in the next two quarters, or else the undersupply situation in the VR device market will likely persist to the second half of 2017," he explains.
Moreover, Tsai adds software is fast becoming the largest opportunity in the VR industry and estimates that the total value of the VR market in 2020 will surpass US$70 billion, of which nearly 60% will come from software.
"The strong sales performances of various devices in the VR market will attract more new entrants from the hardware field; many software developers will also enter the market in the next two to three years to help expand the range of VR applications," he anticipates.
According to the IDC's first worldwide augmented and virtual reality forecast, worldwide shipments of VR hardware should generate revenue of about $2.3 billion in 2016.
VR will drive nearly all of the hardware volume this year, led by products from Samsung, Sony, HTC and Oculus. Augmented reality (AR) hardware is forecast to ramp up over the next few years. The combined device markets will see hardware shipments surge past 110 million units in 2020, IDC noted.
Strategy Analytics reports, global virtual reality headset revenues will reach $895 million in 2016 with 77% of that value accounted for by newly introduced premium devices from Oculus, HTC and Sony.
"These three brands however will only account for 13% of volumes in 2016 as lower priced smartphone-based devices will dominate share of the 12.8 million unit virtual reality headset market.
"2016 will be a pivotal year for virtual reality given a confluence of factors, and also one where managing expectations will be paramount given a dearth of available content and the technical limitations of entry-level virtual reality," observes the analyst firm.
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