Headset hype meets harsh reality as Apple and Meta VR shipments fizzle in 2025

Apple’s pricey Vision Pro VR headset had a tough 2025.

The company halted manufacturing with one of its suppliers, failed to ship any of the $3,500 headsets for the first three quarters of the year, then relaunched the headset with one of its high end M5 chips in time for the fourth quarter, but managed to get just 45,000 out of the door in 2025, according to IDC.

That’s about 345,000 fewer Vision Pros than it shipped in 2024.

By comparison, Meta, shipped 1.7 million Meta Quest units in the first three quarters of 2025, according to IDC. It helps that they cost about one-tenth as much, starting around $349.

But even Meta's shipments were down 16 percent year over year, and the consumer market for bulky headgear has cooled to a damp chill, IDC vice president Francisco Jeronimo told The Register.

“All of these ideas that AR and VR would replace smartphones didn’t happen. It will never happen,” Jeronimo said by phone on Friday.

Last year looked more promising: Apple shipped 390,000 Vision Pro headsets, making about $1.4 billion revenue from the devices, while Meta shipped 5.6 million Quest and Quest Pros in that same time frame representing about $2.9 billion in revenue, IDC said.

Among consumers, the strongest demand for large headsets is within the gaming segment, Jeronimo said. Meta has made strong inroads here featuring break out hits like Beat Saber, Gorilla Tag, and Job Simulator.

But even still, IDC expects the overall market for mixed and virtual reality headset shipments to decline 42.8% once the final numbers are in for 2025.

The headwinds against VR headsets also saw Apple and Meta drop advertising for them in 2025, according to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm. Apple’s Vision Pro advertising accounted for less than 1 percent of its overall ad spend in the US, the firm found.

Overall, Apple’s digital ad spend tied to the Vision Pro in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan in YTD 2025 was down more than 95% year over year in each market, Sensor Tower found. Meta’s ad spend tied to the Quest in those same markets was down more than 55% year over year, its researchers stated.

What appears to be heating up, however, is the market for smart glasses, Jeronimo told The Register.

IDC expects that market to have grown 211.2 percent in 2025. Meta shipped 20,000 units of its new Meta Ray-Ban Display in the third quarter of 2025.

“When it comes to glasses, there’s the perception – and our estimations indicate – that its probably the next ‘big thing’ in terms of interacting with content without hands,” Jeronimo said. “

IDC forecasts that smart glasses are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.3% from 2025 to 2029.

“Whether glasses will replace smartphones, we still don’t know whether that will be the case or not, but what we see is way more interest from different players to explore that kind of product because it provides an interesting experience to end users without having to spend $3,500 on a device.”

While consumers outside of gaming may not bite on bulky headsets, there may yet be commercial and educational applications for Apple’s Vision Pro.

Earlier this year Apple executives outlined enterprise use cases for the Vision Pro in health care, vehicle design and manufacturing, and workforce training in aviation. At UC San Diego, doctors completed 60 clinical trials in live surgeries using Vision Pro to keep patient information in their field of view while operating. Purdue University is using the headsets to train students studying manufacturing by creating digital copies of semiconductor and pharmaceutical facilities.

IDC predicts that the VR headset market will improve for Apple in 2026 with Cupertino forecast to ship 290,000 units, generating $636 million in revenues.

Jeronimo said with its plans to introduce a lower cost headset in the second half of 2026, he doesn’t think Apple is giving up on the device, but it is likely looking at a smaller market aimed at enterprise and education.

“When it comes to commercial, that’s where we see the opportunity. For an organization paying that kind of money for a device that can really improve processes and make the organization more efficient, that’s not that expensive,” Jeronimo told The Register. “That’s the kind of use case that will direct Apple forward, rather than trying to address a consumer opportunity that is clearly not happening.” ®

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Headset hype meets harsh reality as Apple and Meta VR shipments fizzle in 2025