Meta tends to keep a tight lid on how many VR headsets it actually sells. However, there are a few clues we can use to get a sense of its popularity. One telling metric is the number of downloads for its essential companion app, Meta Horizon, which you can find on Android and iOS.
According to independent analyst Omdia, as reported by Game Developer and Forbes, downloads of the Meta Horizon app saw a 27% drop on Christmas Day 2024 compared to the previous year. This particular day has always marked the peak of yearly downloads for the app.
Omdia and Sensor Tower have put together a chart that highlights the major milestones in Meta’s Quest headset journey, from the launch of the Quest 2 in October 2020, which had record-setting sales the following year, to the release of Quest 3 in October 2023, and finally the Quest 3S in October 2024.
Speaking of the Quest 3S, it’s the latest addition to Meta’s mixed reality lineup. It features the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and full-color mixed reality capabilities as the Quest 3, but pairs them with older displays and the heavier Fresnel lenses from the Quest 2. If your budget caps at $300, the Quest 3S is a solid option, though we’d generally recommend aiming for the Quest 3 at $500 for a more robust experience.
That said, the chart doesn’t paint the complete picture. It doesn’t consider re-downloading, app updates, or new downloads on different devices under the same iOS or Google Play account. Plus, it misses users who might own a Quest device already and decide to upgrade, say, from a Quest 2 to a Quest 3S.
Game Developer brings up other elements that might skew a direct correlation between app downloads and headset sales. These include second-hand markets, shared headsets, and even people downloading the app just to check out what’s in the store.
In the absence of concrete data, third-party retailers offer another way to read the market. Drawing from Amazon’s product pages, Game Developer reports that Meta offloaded over 160,000 Quest headsets in November 2024 across eight nations, marking a 16% decline in Amazon sales year-over-year. Interestingly, two-thirds of those were Quest 3S units, leaving the rest as Quest 3s.
However, it wasn’t all downhill. The Quest 3S stood as the top-selling console on Amazon US in 2024, outperforming giants like the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 Pro, and both the Xbox Series S and X hardware refreshes.
The dip in app downloads and falling year-over-year sales on Amazon hint at a waning enthusiasm compared to the Quest 2 days, which set an incredibly high benchmark. Omdia’s data pointed out that after the Quest 2 was launched, Meta more than doubled its app downloads within a year, and tripled them the Christmas after that.
Whether this represents a plateau in the VR market or a shift in consumer interests is yet to be seen. Meta is pulling out all the stops on Quest 3 and Quest 3S – especially with exclusive game titles – in this lead-up to the holiday season. They’re offering a $50 discount on the Quest 3S with 256GB of storage, now at $350, plus a free copy of the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of their Quest+ games subscription service.
Ultimately, whether these indicators suggest a market slowdown or an evolution in how consumers engage with VR is an open question. But one thing’s for sure: Meta’s Quest series still holds significant sway in shaping consumer VR. That dominance, however, might be subject to change—Google must certainly be hoping so.
