Qualcomm's CEO has announced that Quest 2 sales have hit 10 million units -- a major milestone for the VR headset. Additionally, Reality Labs has announced that it's working on VR haptic gloves.
The Oculus Quest 2 -- soon to be the Meta Quest 2 -- is the flagship VR headset at the helm of Facebook / Meta's efforts to dominate the virtual reality and augmented reality spaces. With a growing library of games (including, of all things, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) and a relatively low price compared to other VR headsets, one would guess that it has a good position in the VR market. Now, we have some numbers to back that up thanks to a recent statement from Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
10 Million Quest 2 Sales Shows VR is Here to Stay
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon stated that Quest 2 sales have hit 10 million units in total during an investor day livestream earlier today.
"I remember talking about XR before it was popular a few years ago and we're very excited about our position right now," Cristiano Amon said during the Qualcomm Investor Day 2021 livestream (via UploadVR). "And I'll [point out] that this is already starting -- Oculus Quest 2 was 10 million units."
This is actually the second impressive Quest 2 sales milestone for the year. Back in March, it was announced that the Quest 2 had outsold all other previous Oculus headset models combined in just the first six months of sales.
Meta Reveals Haptic Gloves in Development at Reality Labs
Impressive Quest 2 sales aside, Reality Labs has provided more details about a project it's been working on for some time: VR haptic gloves.
Haptic feedback is the creation of a feeling of touch by applying force or vibration. At the most basic level, many gamers are familiar with it through the rumble functionality on most modern gaming controllers. There have been some niche products over the years such as haptic feedback vests and even full-sized bodysuits, but Reality Labs appears to be working on something that is truly next level.
"Imagine working on a virtual 3D puzzle with a friend’s ultra-realistic 3D avatar," read a blog post from Reality Labs (via ResetEra). "As you pick up a virtual puzzle piece from the table, your fingers automatically stop moving as you feel it within your grasp. You feel the sharpness of the cardboard’s edges and the smoothness of its surface as you hold it up for closer inspection, followed by a satisfying snap as you fit it into place."
"The closest experience we have to this today is hand tracking on Quest, which lets you see a digital version of your hands in VR and manipulate virtual objects, but without actually feeling them in your hands," the blog post continued. "While this ability to use your hands directly in VR is a vast improvement over Touch controllers, without haptic feedback, we simply can’t be as dexterous in the virtual world as in the real world. The goal of this research is to change that."
VR gloves are nothing new -- I got to try out SensoryX's VR Gloves back in 2018. The haptic gloves in the work at Reality Labs, however, use a combination of actuators and vibration to provide what looks to be an impressive level of feedback (as you can see in the video above from AR MR XR on YouTube). Between strong Quest 2 sales and this interesting new tech in development, I think it's safe to say that VR is here to stay.
What do you think of Quest 2 sales surpassing 10 million units? Would you be interested in using VR haptic gloves? Let us know in the comments below!
