According to market research firm IDC , the sales numbers for VR hardware are projected to be through the roof by the end of 2016, with shipments expected to “skyrocket” as the holiday season gets closer.
"In 2016, the first major VR Tethered HMDs from Oculus, HTC, and Sony should drive combined shipments of over 2 million units," said Tom Mainelli , vice president for devices and displays at IDC. "When you combine this with robust shipments of screenless viewers from Samsung and other vendors launching later this year, you start to see the beginning of a reasonable installed base for content creators to target."
Between the Oculus Rift , HTC Vive , and Playstation VR options available for the consumer, IDC expects 9.6 million units sold by the end of the year for a staggering $2.6 billion total.
"Video games will clearly be the lead rationale for people to pick up an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or PlayStation VR this year," added Lewis Ward, research director of gaming at IDC. "While there have been some launch window hardware shipment hiccups that must be addressed near-term, I'm confident that they will be ironed out before the holiday season. The addition of exciting new titles will lead to a new wave of VR HMD hardware interest among those buying for themselves or family members and friends."
In other words, the initial install base will attract diverse gaming content, leading more people to feel an interest in the VR hardware and ultimately pick it up.
Augmented Reality, like Microsoft’s HoloLens , is expected to take a bit more time to penetrate the market but eventually contribute its share to the pot as well. IDC predicts that by 2020, AR will be responsible for another 45.6 million units. You can read IDC’s complete forecast report here .
