54% Q1 fall for VR/AR headsets

Among the many high 5 AR/VR headset makers, Meta continued to guide with 47.8% share though it did lose floor to Sony’s PSVR 2, which captured 35.9% share throughout the quarter. ByteDance (Pico) managed to develop its share from 4.4% final 12 months to six.1% this 12 months due to new merchandise and new markets. DPVR and HTC rounded out the highest 5 with every having lower than 2% share.

Final Thursday Meta launched its newest combined actuality headset, the Quest 3, costing $499 and claimed be 40% thinner than its earlier headset.

“After Sony reemerging as a serious competitor to Meta, all eyes are on Apple, which has but to announce its headset,” says IDC’s Jitesh Ubrani.

“Options like eye monitoring and environmental sensors, and the potential of AI-powered experiences and software program – all of that are of their infancy as we speak – will ultimately grow to be extra ubiquitous and spur new use instances,” says IDC’s Ramon T Llamas.

Whereas VR headsets (people who occlude a consumer’s imaginative and prescient) presently dominate the general market, AR headsets (with see-through or semi-transparent shows) grew 12.6% in Q1 y-o-y.

The market was pushed by simplistic headsets from the likes of Nreal (now Xreal), which act as exterior shows for related gadgets. Extra superior headsets,able to simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) and 3D object manipulation, suffered throughout the quarter largely attributable to Microsoft’s struggles.