It's been a long time coming, but Samsung's alternative to the Apple Vision Pro and other VR headsets is finally here. Meet the Samsung Galaxy XR headset, aka Project Moohan, available now.
Originally teased at a Galaxy Unpacked event in January, the Samsung Galaxy XR headset was officially launched at a live Galaxy event on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Prior to its release, this futuristic headset was known by its codename, Project Moohan. It's available for purchase immediately at the Samsung online store for $1,799.99. A separate Galaxy XR Controller is available for $249.99.
"With Galaxy XR, Samsung is introducing a brand-new ecosystem of mobile devices," said Won-Joon Choi, Chief Operating Officer of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung, in a press release. "Built on Android XR, Galaxy XR expands the vision for mobile AI into a new frontier of immersive and meaningful possibilities, allowing XR to move from concept to everyday reality, for both the industry and users."
Mashable had the chance to go hands-on with the headset at a pre-launch event, and you can read our first impressions of the new device.
Introducing the Samsung Galaxy XR headset
The headset is the first Samsung device in this category, and it packs dual 4K micro-OLED displays, powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform processor. There are a ton of sensors aboard the device, including two high-resolution passthrough cameras, six motion tracking cameras, four eye-tracking cameras, depth sensors, six microphones, and more. The tethered battery is good for up to two hours of general use or 2.5 hours of video playback.
After months of speculation, we can finally geek out over the official specs:
Displays: Micro-OLED with 29 million pixels
Resolution: 3,552 x 3,840
Video playback: UHD 8K (7680 x 4320) at 60 frames per second
Processor: Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform
Refresh rate: Up to 90Hz
Field of view: 109 degrees horizontal, 100 degrees vertical
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 256GB
Camera: 6.5 MP
Weight: 545 grams (1.2 pounds)
Special features: Iris recognition, Dolby Atmos, supports HDR10 and HLG video
The new Samsung headset was developed in partnership with Google and Qualcomm Technologies. It's powered by Google Android XR, which is "the first Android platform built entirely for the Gemini era," according to Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem at Google. Google teased its own unreleased Android XR device earlier this year, though the demo didn't go as planned.
"Through our partnership with Samsung, Android XR will unlock entirely new ways to explore, connect, and create, building an open, unified platform for the next evolution of computing," Samat said in the press release announcing the product.
Availability, pricing, and launch deals
Galaxy XR is available now in the United States with a retail price of $1,799.99.
While that's certainly a high sticker price, some early rumors put the price as high as $3,000. To make the headset more affordable (and avoid Apple's failure-to-launch problems with the Vision Pro), Samsung is offering some financing options and bundles to attract customers.
Samsung will offer a 24-month financing option, and customers who purchase the Galaxy XR in 2025 will get access to "The Explorer Pack," which includes a one-year membership to Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, and "specialized XR content."
Samsung Galaxy XR headset: How it works
The Galaxy XR works like other VR/AR headsets. It has dual displays that create an immersive experience, while pass-through cameras are able to provide a live view of the user's surroundings, which can be augmented with various overlays and 3D graphics.
Samsung is also keen to emphasize the device's AI capabilities as well, and this may be a point of differentiation between the Galaxy XR and the new Apple Vision Pro. Since Gemini is at the heart of the headset, it's capable of multimodal computation. Gemini can be summoned at will to work with you to identify objects, locate places via search, and even spatialize previously 2D content like photos and YouTube videos. You can even utilize Google's popular Circle to Search feature with items you see in the world around you, which is an added bit of fun.
All this is done using hand gestures that are pretty intuitive to learn, in our experience. The controls are especially easy if you've used VR headsets in the past. The pinch gesture is the most common, and you use it to select items, grab and move them, resize windows, and more. Of course, the headset can track both hands so you can grab two spots in Google Maps, rotate them around, and zoom in, Minority Report style.
Arguably, the most exciting announcement here, in addition to the long-awaited Project Moohan headset, is the promise of more XR devices to come, including XR glasses. If you've already dabbled with AR glasses, like XReal's new One Pro AR glasses, you can imagine the possibilities here. Imagine plugging in a set of glasses into your phone and getting a full XR display in front of you on the go.
Right now, virtually every big tech company is following Meta's lead and working on smart glasses, including Google and Apple.
For now, the Galaxy XR headset is the first Android XR device, and it comes at a relatively reasonable price point of $1,799.99. Granted, this is more than three times the cost of the Meta Quest 3, but it's also half the cost of the Apple Vision Pro. Overall, Samsung hit the right spot.
You can order the Galaxy XR headset starting today at Samsung's online store.
