XR Headwear Shipments Fell 39 Percent in 1H26

Global shipments of XR headwear experienced a significant decline of 38.7% year-on-year, falling to 1.9 million units during the first half of 2026, according to recent data from Omdia. Although XR glasses are beginning to gain traction, their growth—starting from a relatively small base—was insufficient to offset the steep drop in traditional XR headset shipments. By 2025, the market had reached its fourth consecutive year of contraction following the peak demand seen during the pandemic in 2021.

In the first half of 2026, XR glasses increased their share of total shipments to 25.8%, a notable rise from 10.2% in the same period a year earlier. This growth was driven almost entirely by tethered display glasses, with three manufacturers—RayNeo, VITURE, and XREAL—collectively capturing 93.1% of that specific segment. Strong demand for devices like the RayNeo Air 4 and the VITURE Beast series helped propel both companies into the second and third positions in the overall market, holding shares of 9.9% and 8.6%, respectively. “XR glasses are gaining momentum because consumers are increasingly willing to trade some immersion for less friction,” said Qiran Ju, Senior Analyst at Omdia. “Lighter designs and familiar use cases such as video viewing and gaming are lowering the barriers to adoption.”

Meta managed to retain its position as the overall market leader, though its market share plummeted from 71.3% in the first half of 2025 to 48.2% in the first half of 2026. This decline was attributed to weakening demand for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S. “Meta poured massive resources into headsets, but has struggled to replicate the breakout success of the Quest 2,” said George Jijiashvili, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia. “Despite the Quest 3 and 3S offering better specs at accessible prices, they have failed to drive a major upgrade cycle or meaningfully expand the audience. The ongoing slump across the headset market reinforces that bulky headwear remains a tough sell beyond a core enthusiast base.”

From a regional perspective, North America remained the largest market for XR headwear with a 43.9% shipment share, followed by Western Europe at 23.8%. Greater China saw the most significant increase in global share, rising from 11.9% in 2025 to 16.3% in the first half of 2026, overtaking the rest of the Asia-Pacific region as the third-largest regional market, supported by strong domestic uptake of tethered glasses. “The next phase of XR evolution will be less about requiring people to enter isolated virtual environments, and more about embedding AI and spatial capabilities naturally into everyday wear,” noted Jijiashvili. “Moving away from occasional, closed-off sessions to frequent, light-touch interactions will be the key to breaking out of the current enthusiast niche.”