Oculus, a virtual reality (VR) subsidiary of Facebook, is dominant with more than half of the XR market share. According to data released on the 11th by market research firm Counterpoint Research, Oculus ranked first with a 53.5% share of the global XR market in 2020. The gap with Sony, which ranked second with 11.9%, is more than four times. HTC, which once attracted attention as a high-performance VR headset, ranked third with a 5.7% market share.
Top 5 XR brand share in 2020 (Source = Counterpoint Research)
XR is a collective term for VR and augmented reality (AR). In VR, you can experience a 360-degree virtual space while wearing a dedicated headset and the external view is cut off. AR is a technology that superimposes virtual images on real space. The sticker function of the camera app and games such as’Pokemon Go’ are representative examples of AR.
VR and AR use different fields. In VR, games are the most popular. Oculus, which ranked first in sales of XR headsets, also focuses on game content. AR is drawing attention in the aspect of developing convenience tools such as virtual manuals and virtual fitting rooms. Oculus showed off its presence by increasing its market share amid a 9% decline in global XR headset shipments in 2020. Counterpoint Research cited the success of the VR headset’Oculus Quest 2’as the background for such growth.
Oculus Quest 2, released in September last year, is gaining sensational popularity with improved performance and lower prices than its predecessor. The global sales volume is estimated to be over 1 million units, and in Korea, SK Telecom sold out the first and second orders soon after official sales began in early February. In the case of secondary stocking, it took only 4 minutes for thousands of units to be sold out. It is known that it is difficult to secure inventory worldwide.
Oculus Quest 2 headset and dedicated controller (Photo = Reporter Lee Geon-han)
The VR market is also vibrant. “VR headsets account for 90% of the total XR market,” said Peter Richardson, chief researcher at Counterpoint Research. “As products at reasonable price points are released and quality content is increasing, the demand for standalone VR devices is increasing.” In the Corona 19 pandemic, the growing demand for VR headsets by companies for education and training was also analyzed as a growth factor for VR. Standalone VR is a VR headset that can be used alone without a separate smartphone or PC connection. The Oculus Quest series is also a standalone VR device.
As Oculus has exceeded expectations, news of global companies that will become competitors in the XR market are being delivered one after another. Sony and Apple are representative. At the end of last February, Sony announced the start of development of a VR headset for PS5 through the PlayStation (PS) blog. It provides higher resolution and improved gesture tracking and input functions than the previous generation, and a new VR controller is also installed. The expected release date is 2022. If the price is not high, it is expected to become Oculus’ strong competitor based on PS5 users that have already shipped more than 4.5 million units.
In the case of Apple, there was no official announcement, but major foreign media predicted that Apple will introduce a high-performance XR headset sooner or later. In early February, the IT media’Mcrumers’ cited data from TF International analyst Ming Qi-guo, an Apple expert, and reported that Apple could release an AR/VR hybrid headset in mid-2022.
Ming Qi Guo predicted that Apple will introduce a helmet-type XR headset in 2022, a glasses-type device in 2025, and a content lens-type device in 2030-2040. However, the price point is expected to be set at more than $1,000 (approximately 1.13 million won). In this case, the possibility of colliding in the industrial XR market led by Microsoft’s HoloLens is higher than in the general consumer market.