Pointers at Glance
- IDC predicts Meta will lose its dominant market share in the VR market in the coming years.
- Meta keeps pouring dollars into developing the metaverse, but the strategy of promoting low-cost hardware at the expense of profitability isn’t sustainable in the long run.
IDC expects Meta will lose its dominant market share in the VR market in the forthcoming years. The virtual reality (VR) industry is growing very quickly. Global VR headset shipments increased by 241.6 percent compared to the previous year’s period during Q1 2022.
Meta keeps dominating the market amidst the success of its Quest 2 headset. It has now captured 90 percent of the market, according to IDC. Despite having only a 4.5 percent market share, the huge rival to Meta at this point is ByteDance’s Pico.
ByteDance’s expansion beyond China into European markets is anticipated to help attract a larger audience in the coming quarters. Other rivals such as HTC, DPVR, and iQIYI round out the top five VR companies but have less than four percent market share combined. The reason for Meta’s success is the seductive price point of its Quest headsets when compared to rivals. However, to achieve these prices and allure new users, Meta subsidizes the hardware and offers exclusive content.
Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said that Meta continues to pour dollars into developing the metaverse. Still, the strategy of promoting low-cost hardware at the expense of profitability isn’t sustainable in the long run.
VR headset shipments are anticipated to grow throughout 2022 to reach 13.9 million, a 26.6 percent increase over last year.
Next-generation headsets from Meta, Pico, Sony, and others, are anticipated to be launched in 2023. However, it’s Apple entering the market with its mixed reality headset that is anticipated to shake up the market.
