Samsung bets on Android XR with the launch of its new Galaxy XR headset

It has been virtually a yr since Google launched Android XR, its new working system designed particularly for prolonged actuality (XR) units like headsets and blended actuality glasses. At the moment, Google introduced it was collaborating with Samsung and Qualcomm to launch the primary Android XR gadget this yr, a headset codenamed Mission Moohan. Now, that headset is lastly making its debut.

Samsung has formally launched the Galaxy XR, its first prolonged actuality headset constructed on Android XR, a platform that Samsung claims facilities round “AI on the core of the expertise.” The gadget runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset and integrates carefully with Google Gemini, which customers can use to handle duties and options in Android XR. Different specs embody a 4K Micro-OLED show, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and as much as 2.5 hours of battery life. The headset can be utilized whereas charging.

Galaxy XR is described as light-weight and comfy, that includes a removable mild defend that, when hooked up, helps block exterior mild to reinforce immersion. It additionally comes preloaded with common Android apps designed particularly for Android XR, resembling YouTube, Google Maps, and Circle to Search.

If you wish to be among the many first to personal Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset and expertise Android XR firsthand, it’s already accessible for buy within the US and Korea on Samsung’s web site, priced at $1,800.

“With Galaxy XR, Samsung is introducing a brand-new ecosystem of cellular units,” mentioned Received-Joon Choi, COO of Samsung’s Cellular eXperience enterprise, in a press launch. “Constructed on Android XR, Galaxy XR expands the imaginative and prescient for cellular AI into a brand new frontier of immersive and significant prospects, permitting XR to maneuver from idea to on a regular basis actuality, for each the trade and customers.”

Galaxy XR takes goal on the Imaginative and prescient Professional

The headset is just the beginning of Samsung’s push into prolonged actuality

Credit score: Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy XR headset, it is arduous to not evaluate it to Apple’s Vision Pro headset, which debuted in 2024 and was lately refreshed with its M5 chipset. Each the Galaxy XR and the Imaginative and prescient Professional provide prolonged actuality experiences, however Samsung’s is considerably cheaper at $1,800 in comparison with the Imaginative and prescient Professional’s $3,500 price ticket.

Like with VisionOS, in Android XR, you possibly can work together with apps whereas sporting the headset in an prolonged actuality surroundings. Whereas the Imaginative and prescient Professional has Apple Intelligence, Galaxy XR presents AI capabilities from Google, resembling Gemini and Circle to Search. For instance, when sporting Galaxy XR, you need to use Circle to Search to circle objects in the actual world to retrieve details about them. You can too work together with Gemini to get details about what you are viewing at any time, resembling when watching a YouTube video or discovering a spot to go on Google Maps.

“Android XR is the primary Android platform constructed solely for the Gemini period, and we’re extremely excited to take a major leap ahead at this time with the launch of Galaxy XR,” mentioned Sameer Samat, the President of Android Ecosystem at Google, in a press launch. “By our partnership with Samsung, Android XR will unlock solely new methods to discover, join, and create, constructing an open, unified platform for the subsequent evolution of computing.”

Samsung’s Galaxy XR is simply the beginning of the corporate’s transfer into XR units, with the tech large already teasing “AI glasses” working Android XR which are coming quickly. These are additionally being developed in partnership with Google and Qualcomm. If Samsung does launch good glasses quickly, it most likely goals to benefit from the rising recognition of good glasses, which is clear by the success of the Meta Ray-Bans.

For now, the Galaxy XR headset is the primary Android XR gadget ever, and it’s accessible now for $1,800 within the US and Korea.