Global shipments of AR/VR head-mounted display (HMD) devices are expected to grow at a CAGR of 52.7% during a 5-year forecast period to reach 40 million units in 2023, according to an estimate of Digitimes Research.
 
The development of standalone VR devices has become the mainstream of the industry since 2018 as shipments of screen-less VR devices have declined sharply due to the unenthusiastic VR experience these devices offer, while makers in the line have also slowed down the development of wired VR HMD devices due to a number of constraints for using such wired products, Digitimes Research says.
 
Meanwhile, Qualcomm's launch of its Snapdragon XR1 platform, claimed as the world's first dedicated extended reality (XR) platform in May 2018, has helped accelerate the development of standalone AR/VR devices by vendors.
 
The XR1 platform is suitable for the development of fixed-point VR devices with relatively lower requirements for fast image processing and motion tracking capabilities and is available at affordable prices, and therefore XR1-based VR devices can be utilized by consumers for watching VR movies, content and engaging in VR-centric social activities. As a result, shipments of XR1-based standalone VR devices are expected to increase significantly in 2019.
 
However, shipments of wired VR headsets will not come as many as consumer electronics products because these VR headsets are being regarded as household appliances on consideration that the use of VR headsets is confined in fixed space with user's view rather limited.
 
On the other hand, AR headsets are defined as consumer products as smartphones, and therefore, a growing popularity of AR devices is likely to result in an explosive shipment growth of the entire AR/VR industry during the forecast period from 2018-2023.