IDC: HTC Vive deliveries are much higher than Oculus Rift

Samsung is the market leader in VR headsets, according to analyst firm IDC. Sony would be the global number two. Among the high-end headsets, according to analysts at IDC, the HTC Vive fared much better than the Oculus Rift.

It is the first time that IDC has published a top five market leaders in VR headsets, so there is no comparison with previous periods. With the Galaxy Note 7 disappearing from the market, in early 2017 the Galaxy S7 series was the most recent smartphone to work with the Gear VR. The S8 didn’t appear until April. Despite that, Samsung is in first place in the IDC list for the first quarter of this year.

Sony takes second place with its PlayStation VR, with an estimated 429,000 headsets delivered. Vive maker HTC and Facebook subsidiary Oculus are in third and fourth place. The Vive was sold 190,000 times, according to IDC, the Rift was 90,000 times, IDC estimates.

The number of VR headsets delivered decreased compared to the previous quarter, IDC thinks. While around 2.3 million units were delivered worldwide in the first months of 2017, the total market at the end of 2016 was still 3.8 million. This is probably due to the holidays.

The analyst firm estimates the numbers based on information from retailers, among other things. Manufacturers do not publicly disclose how many copies of VR headsets they supply.