Strong pre-orders of Sony’s Playstation VR – the release date for which was announced at E3 – will push VR device shipments past 9 million units this year, says TrendForce. Reception so far has been enthusiastic, with several regions, including Japan, selling out almost immediately. TrendForce forecasts a VR device CAGR of 53.5% to 2020, with shipments growing to 50 million units.
“[T]his year’s VR device shipments will be mainly influenced by the supply side of the market,” said TrendForce’s Jason Tsai. “Branded vendors were overly conservative in stocking up their inventories before the market releases of their products. They are now seeing the product demand far outstripping the supply and will have to adjust their inventories in the next two quarters, or else the undersupply situation in the VR device market will likely persist to the second half of 2017.”
Software is quickly becoming the largest growth opportunity in the VR market. TrendForce estimates that the total VR market value will pass $70 billion in 2020; of which, almost 60% will come from software. New hardware and software developers are expected to enter the market over the next two-three years.
Of the 9 million units to be shipped this year, it is expected that the PSVR will take about a 67% market share (6 million units). In comparison, Oculus will ship 2.3 million units (25%) and HTC will ship 700,000 Vive headsets (8%). Cumulative shipments of the PS4 console will exceed 50 million units by the end of 2016 – a big benefit for the PSVR, as these owners represent potential customers.
