IDC: China's AR/VR headset shipments to reach 1.206 million units in 2022

Looking at 2022, China's AR/VR hardware market presents the following main characteristics:

VR market: diversified shipping channels,

The proportion of offline shipments continues to increase

From the perspective of Standalone VR product models, Pico Neo 3, Pico 4, Nolo CM1, Dream Pro, and Dream are the top 5 models shipped in 2022, with annual shipments of 505,000, 217,000, 66,000, 54,000, and 24,000 units respectively.

Although the epidemic and logistics during the e-commerce festivals have impacted the consumer market to a certain extent last year, with the influx of capital and the acceleration of product iteration, 2022 still presents many highlights:

From the perspective of product configuration , the main products of manufacturers in the second half of the year basically turned to new pancake products;

From the perspective of pricing, it basically maintains the same price range as the previous generation of new products;

From the perspective of content ecology , fitness has begun to become an important attraction scene;

From the perspective of sales channels , the proportion of offline shipment channels for Standalone VR products will increase significantly in 2022, with retail + brand store channels accounting for 10.1% of annual shipments;

From the perspective of the manufacturer competition landscape , the leading advantages of leading manufacturers will further expand in 2022.

AR market: Consumer glasses emerge as a new force,

The average unit price continues to decline

AR hardware manufacturers, mainly start-ups, have released new consumer products in 2022, with similar prices and product positioning. Since AR products in previous years were mainly high-priced commercial models, the influx of new products has caused the average unit price of AR products to drop sharply in 2022. By the fourth quarter of 2022, AR product shipments below US$500 accounted for nearly 90%. Currently, most consumer products still need to be connected to a host (mobile phones, computers, etc.), and their main function is to expand the screen. From the perspective of shipping channels, except for individual product models shipped in large quantities to specific commercial end users, online channels based on e-commerce platforms are still the main channels.

In 2023, there will be certain adjustments and changes in the manufacturer's team, product strategy, and strategic focus.

VR Market:

In 2023, VR manufacturers have begun to focus on reducing costs and increasing efficiency to a certain extent, which means that this year's online and offline marketing efforts will be weaker than in 2022. At the same time, the outside world currently has high expectations for the entry of giants, which may have some impact on the new product release plans of domestic manufacturers. As the impact of the epidemic gradually decreases and the overall economic situation recovers, manufacturers will continue to pay more attention to offline channels, and the threshold and cost for consumers to experience VR products in offline stores will continue to decrease.

AR Market:

In terms of products, current consumer-grade AR glasses generally have problems such as limited compatible mobile phone models and inconvenient physical line connection. In 2023, manufacturers will increase investment in interface accessories and software adaptation. At present, the proportion of R&D team personnel of domestic leading AR manufacturers is as high as about 60%, and breakthroughs are expected in improving the hardware product experience.

Analyst Views

Zhao Siquan, senior analyst at IDC China Terminal System Research Department, believes that after nearly a year of hot topics, the AR/VR industry will gradually return to rationality at the end of 2022. More realistic considerations such as how manufacturers can achieve profitability, how to enhance user stickiness, and how to enrich the domestic content ecosystem will become issues that need to be jointly resolved by all parties in the industry in the future. In 2023, the strategic focus of hardware manufacturers will shift from marketing to products and content themselves, thereby achieving a new round of growth.