• by Chuck Martin , March 19, 2018

Worldwide shipments of virtual and augmented reality headsets will grow to 69 million units within four years at a 53% annual growth rate, according to a new forecast from the International Data Corp. (IDC).

Total volumes this year are projected to reach 12 million headsets after worldwide shipments declined last year due to a decline in screenless VR viewers, such as Samsung’s Gear VR.

"While there's no doubt that VR suffered some setbacks in 2017, companies such as Google and Facebook continue to push hard toward making the technology more consumer friendly," stated Tom Mainelli, program vice president, devices and AR/VR research at IDC. "Meanwhile, Lenovo's success with its first consumer-focused AR product shows that consumers are beginning to understand what augmented reality is and the experiences it can provide. This bodes well for the category long term."

The market share of virtual reality screenless viewers is projected to decline from 35% this year to 9% by 2022. Standalone head-mounted VR devices are projected to grow from 12% market share this year to 30% in 2022.

The market share of standalone augmented reality headsets is projected to grow from 2% this year to 19% in 2022.