- Samsung has officially launched the much-awaited Project Moohan called the Samsung Galaxy XR.
- At $1,799, the headset gives you full XR experience with 27MP displays, optical inserts, and powered by Snapdragon XR2+ Gen2 SoC under the hood.
- It comes with full passthrough and an array of six camera sensors that pull off gesture control.
Samsung Galaxy XR is official, and it is huge. The South Korean giant joined forces with Qualcomm and Google to bring the Galaxy XR headset to life — the first Android XR device on the market, with many more to follow. The AI glasses allow users to take advantage of virtual reality and augmented reality, together termed as extended reality, allowing users to break free from the traditional mode of consuming content and beyond. Well, without any further ado, let’s get to know more about the $1,799 headset right here.
Samsung Galaxy XR is official in collaboration with Google and Qualcomm
Samsung Galaxy XR brings a micro-OLED display boasting a resolution of 3,552 × 3,840px and a total of 27 megapixels (close to 8K) resolution on board. The display buffers at 72Hz by default, but users can change between two other options — 60Hz and 90Hz. The virtual spectacle-like glasses cover 109 degrees of horizontal and 100 degrees of vertical view. All that and you get up to 2.5 hours of battery life on-board which is good to go.
Moving on, we have two cameras aboard that let you see what’s going on in the world, well, in an XR experience. These cameras are 6.5MP sensors with a 18mm f2.9 wide-angle lens and can capture both 3D photos and videos.
That’s not all, though. An array of six cameras pulls off the most interesting job on board, i.e., inside-out tracking position. What it means is that the array, without needing any additional external hardware, can capture user input, i.e., by tracking the user’s hands for movements. The array is made up of a flicker sensor and five IMUs (gyroscopes and accelerometers) that, when combined, allow users to perform tasks in the XR experience by physically moving their hands.
I won’t exactly compare the Galaxy XR with Vision Pro though because the material in use doesn’t feel that premium. There’s no removable strap, all you have a lightweight plastic and a cushioned back on-board with adjustable tightness. Of course, there’s are pros on using plastic as it is easier to clean than fabric and much lighter.
Specster? No worries, Samsung has your back!
I know how it feels to wear 3D glasses on top of your regular glasses if you are near-sighted or far-sighted because I am. Well, Samsung Galaxy XR offers adjustable interpupillary distance and supports optical inserts for lenses that can rectify your vision when wearing the headset. This is also what the Apple Vision Pro can do, but the aim is to minimize resistance, especially from a large set of users who are specs-wearers. I am already loving it, though.
The powertrain that runs on the show, literally
Coming to the crux of all, the XR headset is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2. This chipset is touted to offer 20% faster GPU processing and 15% faster GPU performance compared to XR2 Gen2. It supports 16GB RAM and 256GB of storage, and perhaps that’s the only config available with the headset so far. It also supports 12ms full-color video pass-through that we already mentioned earlier.
Google has built an open platform software for the headset, i.e., Android XR. This would allow developers to create apps for your XR headset, of which the Samsung Galaxy XR will be the first taker. But there’s a thing — more XR devices are expected to join the wagon, and we can’t be more excited.
The Galaxy XR gets another focal or unique selling point on board. It is integrated with Google Gemini AI, which means it can do tasks with what you see and hear when wearing the headset. One such example is when you are watching a YouTube video on Galaxy XR, you can ask questions, or you can check out cool places when looking at Google Maps. You can hook it up with your Samsung Galaxy Book laptop which means larger screen to cast.
I would say the best experience with the Galaxy XR is for entertainment. I mean, there’s no need to go to theaters now when you have Galaxy XR for a full-fledged theater-like experience.
Moving on, we have low-latency Wi-Fi 7 connectivity on-board along with Bluetooth v5.4, two 2-way speakers, and six microphones to pick up sounds from your voice and surroundings.
Pricing and availability
Speaking about the pricing, Samsung Galaxy XR retails for $1,799 and is available across South Korea and the US. The latter will get a 30% discount on buying accessories for the XR headset, including Galaxy Buds3 Pro and controller, while students will get a 10% discount on the headset. There’s also a bundle of joy in terms of 1 year of Google AI Pro, 1 year of YouTube Premium, NBA League Pass, and a 1-year Project Pulsar from Adobe. Now that’s like an offer you can’t refuse.
There’s an upcoming Galaxy XR headset in collaboration with lifestyle brand Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, a luxury eyewear brand, that could be launched in the near future, if you are a fashion enthusiast and can wait for a few more days/weeks.
