The buzz surrounding the Metaverse has somewhat revived the boring augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) market and in 2022, AR/VR device shipments are likely to reach 14.19 million units, compared to 9.86 million in 2021, year over year. 36 percent annual increase, a new report has shown.

The year 2023 is forecast to see 18.8 million AR/VR device shipments, building on the momentum from the Metaverse.

Growth momentum will come from increased demand for remote interactivity stemming from the pandemic, as well as the Meta Oculus Quest 2 price reduction strategy.

Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Oculus Quest 2 are the first in market share for AR and VR, respectively.

“The theme of the Metaverse has led brands to actively plan and stimulate product shipment performance. However, the AR/VR device market has yet to experience explosive growth due to two factors: component shortages and the difficulty of developing new technologies,” he said. global market research firm Trendforce.

In addition, sizing and aesthetic considerations have made the optically and technically more difficult Pancake design the first choice for new high-end products.

With no new products on the horizon, TrendForce believes that no other branded product has a chance of supplanting the current state of Oculus or Microsoft until at least 2023.

The Oculus Quest 2, which costs between $200 and $400, is currently the most popular AR/VR device on the consumer market.

The report expected Oculus to release an advanced version of the Quest product within two years, reaching $700 equivalent hardware performance or a discounted $500 retail price.

“This product is expected to expand the size of the high-end consumer AR/VR market. The commercial market is dominated by the HoloLens 2, which costs more than $1,000 and more than $3,500,” the report says.

Apple has become another focus in the AR/VR device market.

“Strong product shipments from Oculus and Microsoft will likely force Apple to launch relevant products to join the competition this year,” the report mentions.

However, considering hardware performance requirements and gross profit margins, Apple is likely to target the commercial market and adopt the same pricing strategy as HoloLens.

However, the launch of new products this year by Apple, Meta and Sony may be delayed and will not add significant growth to the overall AR/VR market for the time being, ATrendforce’s report noted.

–IANS

na/dpb

(Only the headline and image in this report may have been modified by Business Standard staff; all other content is auto-generated from a syndicated source.)