AR demand jumped 138%!

Counterpoint Research just published its Q2 2026 report on the XR device market. The numbers speak for themselves - and they say a lot.

▫️VR is stalling. VR headset shipments dropped 18% year over year and 16% quarter over quarter. Part of the reason - Meta raised prices amid a global memory price surge, adding pressure to an already cooling market. The one segment holding steady is enterprise - businesses keep buying VR for training and simulation, regular consumers don't.

▫️AR is taking off. AR device shipments jumped 138% year over year and 10% quarter over quarter. Reasons - new product launches and international expansion by manufacturers.

What's actually growing within AR is the interesting part. Simple "media glasses" for watching video (Birdbath and Flat Prism tech) - like the new RayNeo and XREAL models - still make up 60% of the market.

But here's what's really worth noting: the share of waveguide glasses - the kind that overlay digital content directly onto the real world, not just play video in front of your eyes - jumped from 20% a year ago to 40% now. That's the actual AR our industry exists for.

Meta still leads the market, but its share keeps shrinking: 72% a year ago → 54% now. The rest is being picked up by other players - Ray Neo, VITURE, Pico, Sony - each holding 6-7%.

What this means. People are ready to buy glasses that add to reality, not replace it entirely.

Which is exactly what we've been saying all along 😎
Anyone still doubting that the future belongs to AR?