Tech companies have been pouring billions into VR tech that teens don't really care about
Digitally obsessed teens are a target market for companies selling virtual reality headsets that transport users into entirely new worlds. But it turns out, the younger set isn’t particularly interested—even though tech companies are spending billions on VR.
Very few teens use VR devices daily, according to a study published Tuesday by investment bank Piper Sandler. The bank surveyed over 5,600 U.S. teens and found that close to a third of them owned VR devices, but only 4% use them every day and only 14% use them every week.
“To us, the lukewarm usage demonstrates that VR remains ‘early days’ and that these devices are less important than smartphones,” Piper Sandler analysts said in their report.
The report noted that between the second half of last year and now, use of VR devices has remained flat. Compared to the same time last year, use has actually dropped to 14% compared to 17%.
Piper Sandler’s results reflect the relatively slow adoption of VR among younger people given that 95% of teens in the U.S. own smartphones and 80% own gaming consoles, according to Pew Research.
Still, companies like Facebook parent Meta are pouring billions of dollars into VR and augmented reality, which involves overlaying virtual effects on the real world.
Big VR push—but what for?
Meta has been a crucial player in the VR market going back to 2014, when it bought headset maker Oculus VR. In a sign of its big bet on virtual and augmented worlds, Facebook in 2021 changed its corporate name to Meta and unveiled its plans to create a metaverse, or fully virtual world. CEO Mark Zuckerberg created a dedicated AR/VR division called Reality Labs and invested $36 billion in it between 2019 and September 2022. Meta also acquired multiple companies specializing in VR technology, which landed Meta in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for monopolizing the market.
Despite the massive push for all things virtual, the social media company has lost a lot of money on its AR/VR endeavors. Reality Labs’ operating loss has grown steadily since 2019, hemorrhaging $4.28 billion in the last three months of 2022, and $13.72 billion during the entire year. Meta expects the division’s 2023 losses to rise even higher and describes its spending on AR/VR and metaverse as “a long-duration investment.”
Another tech giant, Apple, is also making a play in VR, and plans to introduce its mixed-reality headset in June, according to Bloomberg, after working on the technology for close to eight years. Reports suggest there is growing skepticism among Apple insiders about the company’s foray into mixed reality due to the uncertain market and uses for the technology, as well as the expected high price for its headsets: reportedly around $3,000, compared to Meta’s headsets that start at $430.
However, the AR/VR is still in its early phases, and some experts expect that it’s only a matter of time before it explodes in popularity.
“The AR/VR market has been taking slow but sure steps in recent years and is poised to take longer strides in the years to come,” Ramon T. Llamas, research director for mobile devices and AR/VR at IDC, said in a statement last November. “Recently announced and upcoming hardware from major brands showcase clear improvement from first-generation devices. The result: a maturing market ready to thrive for consumers and commercial users alike.”
