OK, Gear VR Has Probably Sold Over 1 Million Units

Initial reports from last week were ambiguous, but Samsung just put out some more concrete numbers on Gear VR sales:

Samsung has already sold over 300,000 Gear VR headsets in Europe this year, a significant figure given that CCS Insight estimates that the total number of VR devices sold in Europe last year was 1.8mn.

Factor in US and Asia sales, and 1 million total is easily a plausible estimate of Gear VR's install base. Which translates into less than 2% of the Samsung Galaxy 6 (with an install base of about 50 million) and the Galaxy 7 (about 10 million) who could use a Gear actually buying a Gear, but it's a start.

Please share this post:

Tweet

 

Comments

[Kitty Revolver]

What is the price point for the gear versus Oculus?

[Adeon Writer]

> What is the price point for the gear versus Oculus?

GearVR is $99.99 USD.
Oculus Rift is $599.99.

The large differences in price are due to the fact that GearVR is simply plastic and optics. It uses a smartphone for a screen and CPU.

[Adeon Writer]

(However, GearVR does not support positional tracking which is very important for a good VR experience, rotation tracking only can easily make people sick.)

[Adeon Writer]

One of the most important problems that need to be solved before mainstream VR can happen is we need inside-out positional tracking; that is, positional trackign without an external tracker.

Once we solve that, every smartphone will be capable of quality VR, and headsets become afordable overnight.

[Wolkenreiter]

I've had the chance to actually test Gear VR just yesterday, and honestly, it felt underwhelming. That device seems mostly built for 360degree panorama video, which is, due to its nature, not stereoscopic and having to carry about a pound of gear on your nose, just to be able to look around in some video didn't make it an any more immersive experience to me.
I'm looking forward to testing Oculus or Vive, eventually, and I really hope a real, stereoscopic 3D environment will significantly enhance the experience. Else, I cannot see this ever going mainstream or becoming the next level of media...