Consumers looking to take a dip into virtual reality (VR) waters without breaking the bank are showing interest in smartphone-based devices. Those are a bargain compared to the hefty costs of console- and PC-based headsets, but the lower price means they will only account for 7 percent of hardware revenue in the next few years, according to a paper released by Juniper Research on Tuesday.

However, the report also predicts that there will be nearly 60 million smartphone VR headsets shipped in 2021, an increase of around 240 percent on an expected 16.8 million this year.

Millions of consumers are reportedly already accessing VR content on smartphone-based devices like Google Cardboard and other options, but Juniper thinks developers need to go beyond the simple experience-based apps available for them now. (More on the growing importance of content investment in this space is available in the article here.)

“Virtual Reality Markets: Hardware, Content & Accessories 2016-2021” also stresses that the current freemium and lower-priced content will impact price expectations going forward. Thanks to the amount of demo and sub-$30 games and experiences on PC, consoles will be the only platform where cheaper prices are not already the norm, it notes.

This could cause profit problems particularly for smartphone VR, with less than 5 percent of apps downloaded for smartphone VR said to charge at the point of purchase. In-app purchases are much more common for this platform, providing extended experiences or expanded content for a fee, Juniper says.

“Many consumers are likely to try the platform because the hardware is relatively cheap, and then turn away because of low-quality free content,” the report’s author James Moar observes. “The best opportunity for smartphone VR is in providing subscription media, from film and series streaming to news broadcasts, to supplement existing online services.”