Oculus Quest 2 drives VR shipments

Facebook led the way for VR shipments in the first quarter of the year.

While enthusiasm for virtual reality has dipped in recent years, the market experienced a surge in interest when Facebook-owned Oculus released its standalone Oculus Quest 2 headset in late 2020 at a high quality and low cost. 

The launch saw standalone headsets dominate IDC’s worldwide quarterly augmented and virtual reality headset tracker, with devices like the Quest 2 and the HTC Vive Focus accounting for 82.7% of shipments in the quarter. This was up from 50.5% in Q1 2020.

Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for IDC’s Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers, said: “Oculus has singlehandedly driven growth in the market as the company managed to capture almost two thirds share of global VR headset shipments during the quarter. While the company currently dominates the consumer segment it faces competition in the commercial segment and its lack of presence in China leaves an opportunity for local brands as well as brands that can cater to businesses.”

The firm also noted that Chinese companies DPVR and Pico performed well during the quarter, finishing as the second and third ranked companies and growing 108.6% and 44.7% year over year respectively.

Overall, IDC predicts VR headset shipments to grow 28.9% year over year in 2021, though this  reflects supply-side constraints as some vendors will struggle with component shortages during the year. The long-term outlook remains strong as global shipments are forecast to grow to 28.6 million in 2025 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.4%.