China's virtual reality (VR) market is expected to reach 54.45 billion yuan (about 7.9 billion U.S. dollars) by 2021, with an annual increase of 95.2 percent, a senior Chinese official said on Thursday at the World Conference on VR Industry.  

Wu Shengwu, deputy head of the electronic information division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said that China's VR market continues to expand as the country makes breakthroughs in key technologies. 

China has become the world's most important production site of VR terminal products, which nurtures the VR consumer market, Wu said. 

In 2018, China's VR market mainly focused on hardware and content, which takes up 41.2 percent and 49.6 percent respectively, while software and service are still underdeveloped.  

In terms of technological innovation, China's VR industry has seen a rapid increase in patents since 2013, with key technologies further maturing.  

5G will unlock more potential of VR

The commercial use of 5G will unlock new potential for the application of VR in broader areas, Wu said.

Currently, VR technology has penetrated into many areas of our lives. For example, with the help of VR, consumers can "try on" clothes at home before placing an order online, and people can "go sightseeing" around the world without going through the door.

Experts believe that in 2019, there will be wider and deeper application of VR in areas such as entertainment, healthcare and transportation, thanks to high speed and low latency of 5G. 

China just issued 5G licenses for commercial use earlier this month, giving the go-ahead for full commercial deployment of the next-generation cellular network technology.

"The MIIT will continue to support the building of a VR manufacturing innovation center, advance the research and development of VR core technologies and promote VR's industry-wide applications," Wu added.

The World Conference on VR Industry, jointly hosted by the MIIT and east China's Jiangxi province, is being held from Oct. 19 to 21 in Nanchang, capital of the province.

(With input from Xinhua.)