The hype that Virtual Reality once had a couple of years ago, when actual VR headsets were still at their prototyping stage, has kind of come down. The hype which glorified in transforming us to a whole new dimension of reality are is now getting a reality check. High end VR headsets costs hundreds of dollars and add to that you also need to have a top of the line gaming PC to run the content has turned the tech less appealing to a lot of consumers. Mobile VR on the other hand is showing good signs of growth over the years and Samsung’s Gear VR platform happens to be the leader here.
One of the reasons for the Gear VR’s success points down to one simple thing- Investment. Unlike PC VR, as we mentioned earlier requires a lot of initial investment, that’s not the case when it comes to Gear VR. Sure, you’ll need to buy one of Samsung’s flagship smartphones to enjoy the tech but that’s about the only investment you need to put as the Gear VR headset is priced very reasonably. Samsung also occasionally provides discounts when you buy their flagship bundled with a Gear VR headset to sweeten the deal.
Japanese tech giant Sony, has also been tasting success with their solution for VR called the Play Station VR. While the headset alone costs two to three times more than what a Gear VR headset does, the reason it has been a hit among the consumers is because it already has a large userbase of its iconic PlayStation console gamers. All that Sony had to do is market the PS VR as an add-on or accessory to leverage their gaming experience and so far it has done pretty well on that part.
Statistica recently released a chart showing the worldwide unit shipment of AR and VR headsets in 2017 during Q1 and Q2 and judging by the chart, its been a two horse race between Samsung and Sony. Facebook owned Oculus and HTC’s Vive still have a bit of catching up to do which will probably take some time as the GPU costs come down and so does the VR headsets price itself.
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