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[Graphic News] VR headset market will be led by Oculus, HTC, and Sony

April 11, 2016 - 18:18 By Kim Young-won

The “big three” of the world’s virtual reality sector -- Oculus, HTC, and Sony -- will go head-to-head this year, according to market research firm Strategic Analytics.

Worldwide sales of virtual reality headsets are expected to stand at $895 billion this year, of which the three VR firms will account for 77 percent. The report did not give details on the market share of each firm.

The research firm, however, anticipated that the three brands will only make up 13 percent of the global shipment volume -- 128 million units -- this year as lower priced smartphone-based devices will be widely received in the virtual reality headset market.

American firm Oculus’ Rift and Taiwanese firm HTC’s Vive are compatible with PCs, while Sony’s PlayStation VR works with its game console PlayStation.

“Consumers will soon be exposed to an incredible diversity of virtual reality options ranging from ultra-low cost to super premium,” Cliff Raskind, director of Strategy Analytics’ wearable device ecosystems service, noted in the report.

“We believe VR has the potential to fuel a new tech spec race in hardware areas such as display resolution, GPUs, storage and 360-degree cameras,” he added.