IDC thinks AR/VR sales may hit almost 100 million units in 2021

Market research firm IDC estimates the total market for augmented reality and virtual reality headsets will see massive growth over the next couple of years. The firm's analysts claim sales are bound to rise from 10.1 million units in 2016 to 99.4 million units in 2021, representing a cumulative annual growth rate of 58 percent.

In terms of revenues, the shipment value of AR headsets during the forecast period will grow from US$209 million in 2016 to US$48.7 billion in 2021. Meanwhile, VR headsets will expand from US$2.1 billion in 2016 to US$18.6 billion in 2021, IDC estimates.

As always, I suggest being a bit wary of long-term forecasts as they're usually pretty wrong. For example, many years ago there were rosy forecasts about netbooks and how this market would continue to grow at a healthy rate until well into the future. That didn't work out as planned.