Virtual Reality headsets promise $895 million sales in 2016: Report

A lot has already been said and written about how 2016 is the year of virtual reality. Now, a report by Strategy Analytics reveals that global virtual reality revenues are expected to reach $895 million this year. The report adds that out of the overall revenue, 77 percent will come from Oculus, HTC and Sony. However, the trio will account to only 13 percent of the volumes, says the report. It is the low-priced smartphone based VR systems that will dominate the space. The Oculus Rift was launched for $600 in March, HTC Vive is on its way and Sony plans to launch the PlayStation VR headset later this year. Meanwhile, Google Cardboard is already available and even distributed for free, while Samsung has already launched its Gear VR. As expected, video games are said to be an early driver for VR headset sales and other applications will include spaces like marketing, entertainment, education and so on. The analysts at Strategy Analytics believe that if a proper ecosystem is created for smartphone-based VR experiences, then VR content makers can help attract users to higher quality VR content and experiences. Cliff Raskind, director of Strategy Analytics’ Wearable Device Ecosystems service, said, “Consumers will soon be exposed to an incredible diversity of virtual reality options ranging from ultra-low cost to super premium. While we expect smartphone-based viewers to take the lion’s share of VR headset volumes in 2016 at 87 percent of shipments, PC and Game Console powered headsets will absolutely dominate value share commanding 77% of revenues.” He went on to say, “Additionally, we believe VR has the potential to fuel a new tech spec race in hardware areas such as display resolution, GPUs, storage and 360-degree cameras.”