"Chinese vendors have heavily invested in the VR market. Compared to other VR products, VR headsets are more likely to be used in everyday life. Apart from headsets, Chinese vendors have been engaged in the development of VR applications, platforms, and content," says Cliff Wang, industry analyst with MIC.

MIC said that there are three major types of VR headsets: smartphone-based models that must be used with a smartphone, PC-based models powered by a PC or game console, and all-in-one models featuring an embedded PC system or game console as those developed by Chinese vendors recently.

“Smartphone-based VR headsets have higher mobility and the larger smartphone user base and thus the number of smartphone-based VR headset brands has exceeded that of PC-based and all-in-one ones.” says Cliff Wang.

Figure 1: PC-, Smartphone-based, and All-in-one VR Headset Launched by Chinese Vendors (Source: MIC, September 2016)