Q1 shipments of AR and VR headsets fell 54.4% y-o-y with  VR representing 96.2% of  the VR/AR headsets shipped, according to  (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker.

 

Among the top 5 AR/VR headset makers, Meta continued to lead with 47.8% share although it did lose ground to Sony’s PSVR 2, which captured 35.9% share during the quarter. ByteDance (Pico) managed to grow its share from 4.4% last year to 6.1% this year thanks to new products and new markets. DPVR and HTC rounded out the top 5 with each having less than 2% share.

Last Thursday Meta launched its latest mixed reality headset, the Quest 3, costing $499 and claimed be 40% thinner than its previous headset.

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

 

“Features like eye tracking and environmental sensors, and the potential of AI-powered experiences and software – all of which are in their infancy today – will eventually become more ubiquitous and spur new use cases,” says IDC’s Ramon T Llamas.

While VR headsets (those that occlude a user’s vision) currently dominate the overall market, AR headsets (with see-through or semi-transparent displays) grew 12.6% in Q1 y-o-y.

The market was driven by simplistic headsets from the likes of Nreal (now Xreal), which act as external displays for connected devices. More advanced headsets,capable of simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) and 3D object manipulation, suffered during the quarter largely due to Microsoft’s struggles.