Sales of augmented and virtual reality devices will rise fivefold over the next four years, according to new predictions.
The figures from analyst firm CCS Insight suggest that sales will rise from 22 million in 2018 to 121 million in 2022, creating a market worth $9.9 billion.
The bulk of the market’s value will come from dedicated VR headsets, which will be worth around $6.2 billion or 63 percent of the total.
The figure also includes 4.5 million sales of consumer smart glasses. Enterprises are meanwhile predicted to buy one million units in 2022, up from only 24,000 in 2017.
George Jijiashvili, CCS Insight Senior Analyst, said: “Virtual reality headsets have been the main source of growth in unit sales to date, and we expect this will continue, particularly headsets that use a smartphone.
“However, we expect standalone headsets like the Oculus Go and HTC Vive Focus to ignite a new wave of growth that will help broaden the appeal of virtual reality, particularly with businesses and in education”.
Jijiashvili also predicted that the likes of Apple entering the smart glasses market could be a major trigger for growth.
A report by IDC last month predicted there will be 12.4 million shipments of either VR or AR headsets in 2018, up 48.5 percent on 2017. The firm predicted AR headsets will account for 97 percent of the market by 2022, across both tethered and standalone devices.