Google shares key Cardboard metrics: 5 million units shipped, 25 million VR apps downloaded

Virtual reality has come a very long way over the past few years, and the widespread adoption of the platform is upon us. This is largely thanks in part to Google Cardboard, which was first announced about a year and a half ago. Wondering just how well the inexpensive VR platform is doing? Google has just posted a few key metrics to show us how many apps have been downloaded, how many headsets are out in the wild, and more.

For starters, Google says 5 million Cardboard headsets have shipped in all, and that’s not even including the folks who have made their own Cardboard headsets. A total of 25 million virtual reality applications have been downloaded from the Google Play Store thus far, and 10 million of those downloads happened just in the past two months (October-December). Of the 1,000+ VR apps in the Play Store, the top five are as follows: Chair In A Room, Vrse, Lamper VR: Firefly Rescue, Caaaaardboard! and Proton Pulse.

Additionally, over 350,000 hours of YouTube videos have been watched in VR, and more than 750,000 VR photos have been captured using Google’s Cardboard Camera application since its launch in December. Last but not least, Google says that over 500,000 students have gone on Expeditions since the program’s launch at Google I/O 2015. We expect to see many more announcements relating to Cardboard at Google I/O 2016, which is taking place May 18-20.

We’re really excited to see what Google has in store for Cardboard over the next few months. What are your thoughts? Do you own a Cardboard headset? How are you liking it?