Augmented And Virtual Reality Headset Market To Grow Nearly 10-fold In Five Years--IDC

The global market for augmented and virtual reality headsets is expected to spike nearly 10-fold, to 99.4 million units shipped through 2021 from 10.1 million in 2016, with the fastest growth in augmented reality headsets, according to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58%. Revenue for VR headsets is expected to grow to $18.6 billion in 2021 from $2.1 billion in 2016, while AR headset revenue is expected to jump to $48.7 billion from $209 million, IDC said. The market share for commercial use of the headsets is expected to increase to 38.5% in 2021 from 20.1% in 2016, with consumer market share expected to decline to 61.5% from 79.9%. "While there was clear demand coming primarily from technology enthusiasts, what became readily apparent were the use cases for enterprise users across multiple verticals and for consumers with gaming and content consumption," said IDC Research Manager Ramon Llamas.