VR headsets may not have been the “it” gift of the holiday season, but there was definitely a pick up in consumer interest. Based on our analysis of Google Trends data, we believe that Oculus sold about 55k Rifts in Q4 and HTC sold about 65k Vives. We note that based on Facebook’s quarterly reports in Q2 and Q3, Oculus was selling around 40k units per quarter.  Thus the holiday season appears to have brought about a 40% increase in unit volume for Oculus.

While Facebook does not report Oculus unit sales (we back into them), management will likely offer some additional VR related commentary on February 1st. We would expect management to maintain their consistent commentary that VR is still early. Beyond that, we may get an updated number of Gear VR users (the company reported 1 million monthly actives at the Q2 call) or additional color on future VR investment (they announced an incremental $250 million in VR investment during the Q3 call). Net-net, we expect Facebook’s Q4 update to be a modest positive to the VR ecosystem.

Disclaimer: We actively write about the themes in which we invest: virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics. From time to time, we will write about companies that are in our portfolio.  Content on this site including opinions on specific themes in technology, market estimates, and estimates and commentary regarding publicly traded or private companies is not intended for use in making investment decisions. We hold no obligation to update any of our projections. We express no warranties about any estimates or opinions we make.