Counterpoint: XR headset shipments to drop 19% in 2023

According to Counterpoint’s Global XR (AR and Headset Shipments) data, global extended reality (XR) headset shipments are expected to decline 19% year-over-year in 2023. This decline is due to a lack of compelling new XR headsets and a lack of attractive and compelling use cases beyond gaming.

In 2023, Meta accounted for 59% of total global XR title shipments, down from 77% in 2022. This was mainly due to competition from Sony's latest PSVR 2. Meta's shipments also fell 38% year-over-year in 2023.

Meta Quest 3, launched last October, became the best-selling XR headset, accounting for more than half of sales in the fourth quarter of 2023. Launched three years after its predecessor, Quest 3 features several key enhancements, including much-improved video pass-through technology that adds mixed reality (MR) capabilities previously available in the enterprise-grade Quest Pro.

Quest 3’s launch quarter shipments were down 33% from Quest 2’s launch quarter.

Sony performed well in 2023, taking second place in the XR market thanks to the successful launch of PSVR 2, which outsold the original PSVR in the first quarter.

Currently, gaming is the primary use case driving sales of XR headsets.