Around two million people in Britain will own a VR headset by the end of 2016, according to a forecast from research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics. www.StrategyAnalytics.com With prices ranging from under £10 for a Google Cardboard headset to £770 for an HTC Vive, three per cent of the population will spend a total of £62 million on VR this year.

Mobile VR will account for the vast majority (92 per cent) of units sold. VR on consoles will account for 7 per cent, while the remaining 1 per cent of sales will go on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

• 92% Mobile VR
• 7% PS VR
• 1% PC VR

“VR take-up among the British public will be a slow burn and dominated by low-cost headsets,” said David MacQueen from Strategy Analytics’ global wireless practice. “The VR headset market will be much like the car market – most owning the likes of Vauxhalls and Fords, a handful owning Porsches and the odd few splashing out on a Ferrari.”

MacQueen emphasises the big gulf between price and quality: “the experience of a Google Cardboard versus an HTC Vive is as different as listening to a car stereo versus being in the front row of a concert.” The “slow burn” is shown that by the end of next year, 10% of British adults are estimated to own a VR headset, rising to nearly one in five in 2018 and over one in four (27%) in 2019. “To put its popularity in context, it will take at least five years for VR headsets to reach the level of household penetration that say Sky TV has now,” notes MacQueen.

However, it’s estimated that by 2020, one in three British adults will own some form of VR headset. “Despite the slow start, there’s a real opportunity in the longer term,” he says. “VR can bring new experiences to people beyond the obvious next step in video games. There’s also watching sport right in amongst the action, enhanced communications and social networking, plus more serious uses such as better educational materials for kids or use in architecture and design.”