Analyst shares predictions.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets were crowd favourites at the recent Hong Kong Electronics Fair. It comes as no surprise with a number of global research firms predicting that there will be 171 million active VR users by 2018 and revenue is expected to reach $4.6 billion with VR software revenue increasing by a massive 3,000%.
Speaking at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair was Industrial Technology Research Institute, industry analyst and project manager, Alex Hou.
“Smartphones from key vendors could be packaged with VR headsets as soon as 2020. I also believe smartphones will have a 360-degree camera as a standard feature and VR displays will advance to 16K resolution within this time frame,” Hou told a group of attendees.
A number of smartphone manufacturers have already jumped on the VR bandwagon. In particular, Sony with its PlayStation VR (early shipments sold out prior to arriving in stores), the Gear VR from Samsung, the Microsoft HoloLens and the HTC Vive.
Hou also believes intelligent personal assistants, such as Siri, could have a physical face through the use of VR in the near future. “You will be able to see Siri, not just talk or respond to her,” he said.
He also predicts teleporting to be the next wave of development. “Microsoft Research’s Interactive 3D technologies team has developed Holoportation with the HoloLens. It allows two people to teleport into the same room using the HoloLens to interact with one another,” he explained.