Meta is fairly tight-lipped when it comes to detailing just how many headsets it sells, although there are a few ways to gauge the platform’s popularity, one of which is fresh downloads of its required companion app, Meta Horizon, available on Android and iOS devices.
Citing data obtained by independent analyst Omdia, Game Developer (via Forbes) notes that downloads of the Meta Horizon app fell by 27% on Christmas Day 2024 when compared to 2023, which is historically the app’s yearly peak for downloads.
The chart below, courtesy of Omdia and Sensor Tower, also tracks some of the biggest moments in Meta’s successive Quest releases, including the launch of Quest 2 in October 2020 and its record-setting sales the following year, the release of Quest 3 in October 2023, and the release Quest 3S in October 2024.
Note: Quest 3S is the company’s latest mixed reality headset, which packs in Quest 3’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset and full-color mixed reality capabilities, as well as Quest 2’s older displays and bulkier Fresnel lenses.
Quest 3S is an excellent headset if you only have $300 to spend, although we still recommend springing for Quest 3, priced at $500.
That’s not the whole story though. Notably, the chart above doesn’t take into account re-downloads, app updates, or subsequent downloads on new or additional devices for an existing iOS/Google Play account. It also doesn’t take into account users who already own a Quest device and are adding a new one to their account, such as a user upgrading from Quest 2 to Quest 3S.
As Game Developer notes, other factors that may detract from linking app downloads directly to headset sales include second-hand sales, headset sharing, and non-owners downloading the app to explore the app store.
In lieu of official data, another barometer is third-party retailers. Citing data from Amazon product pages, Game Developer notes that Meta sold over 160,000 Quest headsets in November 2024 across eight countries, which represents a 16% decrease in sales on Amazon year-over-year. Two-thirds of those headsets were Quest 3S, while the remainder was Quest 3, according to the report.
On the flipside, Quest 3S was the top-selling console on Amazon US in 2024, beating out Switch, PlayStation 5 Pro, and both Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X hardware refreshes.
Still, the decrease in app downloads and year-over-year Amazon sales may suggest a cooling of enthusiasm compared to the Quest 2 era, which set the bar exceptionally high. According to Omdia’s data, Meta managed to more than double overall app downloads in the year after Quest 2 was initially released, and nearly triple the number of downloads that following Christmas.
Only time will tell how much gas Meta effectively puts behind Quest 3 and Quest 3S, and how many big (and likely exclusive) games it can fund to move the needle in this year’s long ramp up to the holiday season. In an effort to bolster Quest 3S sales, Meta has actually discounted the largest storage variant of Quest 3S (256GB) by $50 for a limited time, bringing it to $350, which comes in addition a free copy of the highly-rated Batman: Arkham Shadow and three-month trial of Quest+, the platform’s games subscription service.
Whether these trends signal a plateau in the VR market or simply a shift in consumer priorities is an open question, but one thing remains clear: Meta’s Quest line is sill the dominant force in the evolution of consumer VR.
But maybe that’s changing? Google probably hopes so.
