A gallery assistant wearing Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) goggles to view the House of Positive Art (HOFA) Metaverse gallery stands in front of the digital artwork “Agoria,_{Compend-AI-M}_2022 #16” during a preview in Mayfair, London , UK, Thursday 10 November 2022
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg | Getty’s paintings
Based on a latest survey by Piper Sandler published on Tuesday, virtual reality has not caught on amongst American teens.
While 29% of teens surveyed owned a VR device – in comparison with 87% of iPhone owners – only 4% of headset owners used it daily and 14% used it weekly.
Also, teens didn’t seem interested in buying the upcoming VR headsets. Only 7% said they planned to purchase a headset, compared with 52% of teens surveyed who were unsure or not interested.
The survey results suggest that virtual reality hardware and software has yet to realize traction with the general public, despite billions of dollars of technology investment by Big Tech firms and the various low-cost headsets available on the market. Teenagers are often seen as the primary adopters of latest technologies, and their preferences could also be a harbinger of where the industry is headed.
“For us, summer usage shows that VR stays ‘early days’ and that these devices are less vital than smartphones,” Piper Sandler analysts wrote.
The survey also shows that VR is having a tough time getting traction Apple it is reportedly gearing as much as announce its own headset as soon as this yr. The survey suggests it could have a tough time convincing potential customers.
Meta, the parent of Facebook can also be set to release latest virtual reality headsets later this yr. Its Quest 2 headset, which was released in 2020, is by far the leader in terms of sales in the market, but shipments fell last yr, in accordance with analysts.
Piper Sandler’s teen survey surveyed greater than 5,600 teens in the USA in February.