Research firm: VR headset deliveries fall by a third

Deliveries of VR headsets dropped sharply last spring. That has been calculated by analyst firm IDC. In total, manufacturers delivered a third fewer VR headsets than in the spring of 2017. This is mainly due to cheap headsets.

The ‘screenless VR headset’ category, which includes the Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard, fell in the quarter from a million last year to just over 400,000 this year, claims IDC. Samsung no longer supplies the Gear VR as standard with its high-end phones, something that used to happen.

The other categories of VR headsets showed growth. Standalone headsets grew more than 400 percent, especially with the release of the Oculus Go this spring. Oculus delivered 212,000 copies of it in the three months, the analyst firm says. That is much more than the Rift, which came to 102,000 units. Shipments of the PlayStation VR fell sharply, reaching 93,000 in the quarter.

The deliveries of the Vive increased, partly due to the release of the Viveport subscriptions and the more expensive Vive Pro variant. The Vive Focus is not included, because just like the Oculus Go, it is a standalone headset. IDC believes that despite the decline, the VR headset market will pick up in the near future.