XR equipment shipments in 3 years doubled 10 times to exceed 100 million units! Apple Meta and Sony may become the biggest pushers

Zhi DongXi (public number: zhidxcom)

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Zhidong January 19 news, recently Counterpoint released a report, predicting that in 2025 XR (Extended Reality) headset shipments are expected to exceed 100 million units, an increase of nearly 10 times compared with 2021. The expected release of new products such as the Oculus Quest series in 2022, the Sony PlayStation VR2, and Apple's AR glasses will boost shipments of XR headsets.

Among them, the VR (virtual reality) all-in-one machine is currently the mainstream choice in the XR headset market, and it is expected that shipments will exceed 40 million units in 2025. Tethered AR (augmented reality) devices (AR devices connected to PCs or hosts) are expected to gain momentum in 2022 as Apple joins, and by 2025, shipments will rival VR all-in-ones.

Affected by the size of consumers and enterprises, North America will still be the largest market for XR headsets, Europe as the main market for XR headsets is currently limited by language, and it is expected that the development will slow down, and China may become the fastest growing XR market.

▲Counterpoint released XR headset shipment forecast report

First, thanks to the meta-universe and new products, XR headset shipments are expected to exceed 30 million

Metaverse is the hottest term on the Internet in recent years, with a range of products emerging around metaverses. Since the XR headset is an important hardware for consumers in the metacosm, the heat of the metacosm has the potential to become a powerful catalyst for the growth of XR headset shipments in the coming years.

In 2021, Meta's company Oculus released the VR all-in-one Quest 2, prompting VR headsets to accelerate the pace of development this year. In 2022, Oculus will continue to launch the Quest series, Sony expects to launch the PlayStation VR2 to compete with it, and Apple will also venture into the XR field, launching AR glasses this year. Meta and Sony have built a good user base for product upgrades, and Apple also has a lot of experience in increasing new product sales. Counterpoint predicts that the total output of XR headsets may reach 30 million in 2022.

Second, VR all-in-one machine is the mainstream choice, and tethered AR devices are expected to be driven by Apple

Commenting on the market dynamics, senior analyst Karn Chauhan said that VR all-in-ones have become a major choice in the gaming space, thanks to the success of the Oculus Quest 2. The wireless form is the direction of the XR headset, and the VR all-in-one device is more favored by OEMs and consumers than the tethered VR device, and it is expected that the shipment growth of the latter will be relatively slow in the future.

At the same time, Xiao Han mentioned the development prospects of AR. AR has been a small field since 2016, mainly serving enterprises, providing high-priced, high-specification products, and this trend may not change much in the short term. However, as Apple expects to enter the tethered AR space, Shawn believes that by 2025, tethered AR devices will become the fastest-growing headsets.

Third, North America is still the largest market for XR, and the Chinese market may grow rapidly

Senior analyst Harmeet Singh Walia commented on the XR headset market in each region, arguing that North America will remain the largest XR market given the size and advancement of consumer and enterprise users. The demands of this market will be met by Oculus, the largest XR headset brand today, and Apple, a highly anticipated new entrant.

On the other hand, Europe, with its middle-class size, is currently the main XR market, but due to the complexity of european native languages and the limited development of content, Walia expects its growth to be relatively slow. In contrast, the fastest growth rate is likely to be China. China adopted 5G earlier, and the local language is unified, which facilitates content development. In the future, the demand for XR headsets in the Chinese market is expected to be met by existing OEMs such as DPVR and Pico, as well as major Chinese smartphone OEMs.

Conclusion: The metacosm "adds firewood" to the XR market, and China may become a key growth variable

According to Counterpoint, the popularity of the metaverse concept will stimulate the development of the XR headset market. In the future, with the gradual introduction of new products from Oculus and Sony, and the addition of Apple, the XR headset will be dominated by VR all-in-one and tethered AR devices, and the overall shipment volume will exceed 100 million digits.

Worldwide, North America and Europe are currently the main force in the XR market, and China, as a rising star, how to take advantage of 5G to skyrocket still require the efforts of various manufacturers.

Source: Counterpoint