Samsung has recommitted to launching its Apple Vision Pro rival at some point next year. During a recent earnings call, the South Korean tech giant said its plan for 2025 is to "improve connectivity among products, including upcoming XR devices.”
The company's plans for an XR headset aren't exactly a secret. We reported on it throughout 2023 and the rumors have kept trickling through over the last twelve months. The only question left is: what's taking so long?
The South Korean tech giant partners with Qualcomm on the best Samsung phones, so it's reasonable to assume the chipmaker will provide the power for the headset. Meanwhile, the platform it runs on will likely be provided by Google. Back in July, at the end of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked Summer 2024, Google's Rick Osterloh reaffirmed the two companies' partnership when he announced "a new XR platform is coming later this year."
Earlier this week a report emerged on Android Authority that Google's Play Store will start hosting apps designed for extended reality (XR) headsets. Since there aren't any other big Android-based hardware makers building headsets right now, this feels like a clue. Industry sources have speculated an "Android XR" platform will be Google's answer to visionOS.
What is XR?
Extended reality (XR) is the umbrella term for Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) generated through a headset like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest.
Unfortunately, we're still no clearer on what Samsung's device could actually look like or how it'll compete with the likes of Apple Vision Pro or the Meta Quest 3. A report in June 2023 suggested the company wants to produce a headset that'll cost between $1,000 and $1,500 while still outperforming Apple's device. That's no small task.
An early report suggested an image sensor Samsung unveiled in December 2023 called the ISOCELL Version 931 would be the basis for the headset. The sensor works like the human eye — using a rolling shutter to exposes all pixels to light at the same time.
When it does arrive, there will be a lot of expectation riding on what Samsung can produce. Both Meta and Apple have a head start on hardware with rapidly-maturing software platforms to support them. But there's three ways Samsung's mixed reality headset could beat Apple Vision Pro.
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