Virtual reality or explosive growth in 2016

This year may be a virtual reality year.

Some VR devices (such as the Samsung Gear VR) and stand-alone virtual reality devices (such as the Oculus Rift) that are analyzed and predicted to be supported by smartphones will achieve rapid development for the first time in 2016.

The market research firm Strategy Analytics pointed out that the promotion speed of VR equipment may be very slow at the beginning, because its price is too high, and users do not know enough about it. However, this year, VR equipment will create revenue of $895 million.

Some high-end VR devices, such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony PlayStation VR, will account for the majority of revenue and a small percentage of sales. Early users may be staring at these high-end VR devices. Strategy Analytics expects that these high-end VR devices will account for 77% of all VR device revenue in 2016. In 2016, sales of all VR devices will reach 12.8 million units; high-end VR devices will account for 13% of the total, which is approximately 1.7 million units.

On the other hand, smartphone-supported VR devices, such as Samsung Gear VR, will account for 87% of all VR device sales, and account for 23% of all VR device revenue. Since such VR devices are often used in conjunction with new smartphones, consumers are more likely to reach them and use them to learn about virtual reality technology.

In 2016, consumers' awareness of VR devices will be greatly enhanced, which will inevitably stimulate sales growth of VR devices. In the next few years, smartphone-supported VR devices are expected to dominate their sales, as stand-alone VR devices often require consumers to purchase high-end gaming PCs for support. For example, the HTC Vive sells for $800, but purchasing a PC that supports it requires an additional $1,000.

The VR device market will become very hot, but we still need to understand this market in depth.

The market research company BI Intelligence compiled and compiled a detailed report on VR devices. The report predicts sales, revenue, and average selling prices of VR devices over the next five years. It also examines the various VR devices available on the market, discusses which device will eventually win, and examines the application scenarios of VR devices, such as games.

Here are some key points in this report:

1. VR devices have been introduced for the first time in the consumer market and are ready to introduce advanced, realistic content platforms. We estimate that from 2015 to 2020, the annual compound growth rate of VR equipment sales will reach 99%.

2. By 2020, sales of VR devices will create a $2.8 billion hardware market; this year, the size of this market is estimated to be $37 million.

3. VR devices fall into the category of relatively low-priced consumer electronics products, and this price will facilitate their promotion. These devices will be similar in price to smart watches and need to be used in conjunction with other independent computing devices.

4. Games on mobile devices and game consoles will greatly increase the demand for VR devices. Currently, there are about 1.2 billion gamers worldwide; of these, there are nearly 1 billion mobile game players. This will create a huge market for VR devices.

5. In addition to games, VR devices will also become an important platform for streaming media content and shopping. Oculus has already launched the Story Studio, a platform for making VR movies. In addition, many consumers also claim that realistic VR experiences will attract them to shop more on the web than to visit physical stores.