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VR Shipments Expected to Increase by 27% Y/Y in 2018
July 23, 2018
 
Trendforce issued their expectations for VR unit volumes this year, projecting shipment growth of 27.4%.  According to the Trendforce forecast, the industry will ship ~1m more units this year than last, which includes tethered, stand-alone, and console-based VR devices but does not include mobile (smartphone) based units. 
 
Table 1: VR Unit Shipments

Source: Trendforce
 
From the perspective of VR industry revenue, there are two things to consider. 

• First, a number of companies have made high value acquisitions in the VR/AR space, and need to justify their purchases, and
• Second, many forecasts include AR and a variety of devices that might not be quite at the same level as what is indicated here, such as the $15 Google Cardboard VR

 
Therefore, the dollar value forecast comparisons are not necessarily valid from year to year, not surprising for a relatively new CE market segment.  The forecasts in the following table are all current within the last few months, although we added Est. 6, which was made in January 2016 for comparison.  VR and AR both remain rapidly moving targets with a small number of players and continued technology improvements.  That said, looking at the comparison between Est. 1 and Est. 6 (made 2.5 years ago) and the differences between estimates for this year, there seems to be a great deal of speculation in the numbers to say the least.
 
Table 2: VR/AR Market Size Estimates

Source: Various