Virtual reality headset have a stereoscopic head-mounted display, which provides realistic images separately for each eye, stereo sound, and sensors for head motion tracing. Sensors used for head motion tracking are gyroscopes, accelerometers, and structured light systems, among others. Moreover, virtual reality headsets also comprises sensors for eye tracing and gaming controller.

Virtual reality helps enables users to interact with virtual environment with the help of virtual reality content including movies, videos games or a previously recorded 360-degree VR environment. Virtual reality has various applications from aiding in providing a virtual tour of the house to prospect buyers, to watching a football game in immersive augmented reality or interacting with doctors remotely. This is expected to aid in growth of virtual reality industry, in turn increasing demand for virtual reality headset devices.

Increasing demand for smartphones is one of the major driving factors for the market growth

Major factors expected to propel growth of the global VR headsets market is proliferation of mobile devices specifically smartphones, as most VR headsets rely on the smartphone to display content and use various specially developed apps for the same. For instance, Matterport VR Showcase is a virtual reality app compatible with Samsung Galaxy series (Android Kitkat 4.4+) and Oculus Gear VR app needs to be installed on the device. According to Coherent Market Insights analysis, share of headset installed base of Samsung gear VR was around 16.3% globally, and the share of mobile phone based VR headsets were about 87% globally, in 2016. Over 2.56 billion smartphone users were reported worldwide in 2016. Hence, the increasing smartphone sales are further increasing the growth of VR headsets market.

Proliferation of digital entertainment and media segment is expected to drive growth of the global virtual reality headsets market

Increasing utilization of digital entertainment and digital media is expected to accelerate global market growth. For example, film producers, professional sports leagues and associations are increasingly adopting virtual reality technology, in order to increase their customer base. For example, in 2015, the NBA Golden State Warriors experimented with NextVR technology to stream their regular-session for individuals using Samsung Gear headsets. Furthermore, music and adult entertainment segments are also adopting virtual reality technology to produce 3D contents, which is expected to increase their viewers’ base. Moreover, on-demand series providers are also adopting virtual reality technology, in order to enhance consumer experience. For example, in 2016, HBO provides virtual reality 360 degree content for famous series, Game of Thrones. Therefore, increasing demand for virtual reality technology is expected to propel growth of virtual reality headsets market in digital entertainment and media sector.

Increasing adoption of virtual reality headsets in military and defense sector is expected to be another factor for growth of the market

Demand for virtual reality headsets in military and other scientific application is increasing significantly and is a key factor expected to boost growth of the global virtual reality headsets market. This is attributed to rising need for improvement of mental and physical training program, which includes combat training, flight simulation, battlefield simulation, and vehicle simulation among others. It aids in providing better training experience to the soldiers. For instance, the United States Department of Defense adopted virtual and augmented reality to reduce its training budget. According to the U.S. Navy, it is expected to invest US$ 6 billion to US$ 6.12 billion per year for training and simulation purpose from 2016 to 2021 for virtual reality. This is, in turn, expected to aid in growth of the market over the forecast period.

Virtual Reality Headsets Market Taxonomy

On the basis of headset type, the global virtual reality headsets market is segmented into:

Handheld

Smartphones Enabled

PC-connected

On the basis of component, the global virtual reality headsets market is segmented into:

Head-mounted display

Stereo sound system

Head motion tracking sensor

Controllers

Display screen

On the basis of application, the global virtual reality headsets market is segmented into:

Consumer Electronics

Healthcare

Games & Entertainment

Automobile

Education

Real Estate

Military

On the basis of regions, the global virtual reality headsets market is classified into:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East

Africa

Virtual Reality Headsets Market: Regional Insights

The global virtual reality headsets market is segmented on the basis of regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The North America region held the dominant position in the market in 2016 and is projected to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. The U.S. and Canada are major economies driving the growth of virtual reality content creation market in this region. High adoption of novel technologies such as virtual reality and prevalent of video gaming culture in the region especially in the U.S. have driven the growth of virtual reality content creation market. According to Coherent Market Insights analysis, the U.S. virtual reality video market was valued approximately US$ 122.8 million and the virtual reality gaming revenue was valued about US$ 276.3 million in 2016.

Global Virtual Reality Headsets Market: Key Players

Major players operating in the global virtual reality headsets market are Sony Corporation, Samsung electronics Ltd., HTC Corporation, Google, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, LG Electronics, Inc., Avegant Corporation, Facebook, Fove, Inc., and Oculus VR, LLC.

Global Virtual Reality Headsets Market: Key Developments