New Delhi, May 20 (IANS): cumulatively Meta shipped 10 million units of its Quest 2 (formerly Oculus Quest 2) a virtual reality (VR) headset in 2021, a new report has said.

The US contributed 70 per cent to Quest 2's shipments, followed by Europe with roughly 20 per cent, according to Counterpoint Research.

As a popular tech gift for children and grandparents, half of its shipments occurred during the holiday season in the last quarter of 2020 and 2021.

"Meta succeeded by offering great hardware at a reasonable and competitive price starting at $299. It also focused on offering continuous improvements through monthly software updates," said Karn Chauhan, senior analyst.

Quest 2's cumulative shipments are 1.5 times higher than its next biggest competitor, Sony PSVR.

However, it will face more competition from the highly-anticipated PSVR 2, as well as the devices that DPVR and Pico launch in 2022, the report mentioned.

Meta's next major Quest device will be launched in 2023.

According to Chauhan, currently there is no significant hardware advancement in VR headsets for the affordable segment.

"Also, the consumer is holding on to VR devices longer. We estimate that Meta will ship nearly 12 million VR headsets in 2022, including the upcoming Project Cambria product, which will be launched later in 2022 to showcase Meta's potential capabilities," he noted.

More than 80 per cent of the volume will be driven by Quest 2, which will be available throughout the year at a price point that has proven to be a sweet spot for VR headsets, the report said.