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Oct 31, 2024

Samsung XR/VR headset – everything we know so far and what we want to see | TechRadar

Samsung and Google have a new VR headset in the works When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A new Samsung XR/VR device is coming

Samsung and Google have a new VR headset in the works

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

A new Samsung XR/VR device is coming according to the manufacturer itself, and we couldn't be more excited too see what this so-called Apple Vision Pro rival (an XR headset from Apple) will have up its sleeves.

Qualcomm has confirmed its new Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip will be powering the headset, Google is lending a hand in some way (we predict on the OS/software side of things), and (surprisingly) Sony-made micro-OLED displays are set to feature according to a recent leak. Most likely it'll also be pricey like the Vision Pro, though until Samsung says anything officially, we won’t know exactly how much it will cost, or when it will be released.

More recent leaks however suggest that an XR2+ Gen 3 chipset may arrive soon, and if it does the Samsung headset may skip to it given this chipset is meant to be a much bigger leap forward than the Gen 2 compared to the Gen 1.

We had hoped we wouldn't be waiting much longer to see it either. At the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked June 2024 event in Paris Samsung President and Head of the Mobile Experience (MX) business TM Roh said that its "new XR platform coming this year," however recent leaks suggest its release date has been delayed until 2025 maybe even further.

We won’t know how much Samsung and Google’s new VR headset will cost until the device is officially announced, but most rumors point to it boasting premium specs – so expect a premium price.

Some early reports suggested Samsung was looking at something in the $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,500 range (just like the Meta Quest Pro) though it may have changed its plans. After the Apple Vision Pro reveal, it’s believed Samsung delayed the device most likely to make it a better Vision Pro rival in Samsung’s eyes – the Vision Pro is impressive, as you can find out from our hands-on Apple Vision Pro review.

If that’s the case, the VR gadget might not only more closely match the Vision Pro’s specs it might adopt the Vision Pro’s $3,499 (about £2,725 / AUS$5,230) starting price too, or something close to it.

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Much like its price, we don’t know anything concrete about the incoming Samsung VR headset's release date yet. But a few signs pointed to a 2024 announcement – if not a 2024 release.

The most recent was from Samsung President and Head of the Mobile Experience (MX) business TM Roh himself who revealed that it and Google's "new XR platform coming this year" during the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked June 2024 event in Paris. This suggests we'd also see its headset, but we'll have to wait and see what's shown off, with a likely reveal event being the Samsung Developer’s Conference scheduled for October 3, 2024.

This is supported by a rumor that Samsung’s VR headset project was delayed after the Vision Pro announcement, suggesting it would arrive in mid-to-late 2024.

All that said, a new leak has suggested Samsung and Google are rethinking their XR headset plans, and that means the Samsung XR headset might now launch in 2025 or beyond. Maybe it'll end up not even launching, with it replaced by the rumored Samsung AR Glasses.

A lot of the new Samsung VR headset’s specs are still a mystery, and some leaks seem a little odd. The first is that it'll apparently use micro-OLED displays supplied by Sony instead of Samsung-made screens. According to a rumor it'll be a 1.3-inch size with a 3,840 x 3,552 pixel resolution, a refresh rate of 90Hz, and a max brightness of 1,000 nits.

For comparison the displays in the Meta Quest 3 boast 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye, an experimental 120Hz refresh rate mode, and a 90Hz standard refresh rate mode.

Beyond this some details like what size battery it’ll have, its storage space, and its RAM aren't known. Nor what design it will adopt – will it look like the Vision Pro with an external display, like the Meta Quest 3 or Quest Pro, or something all-new?

But we do know one thing. It’ll run (as we predicted) on a brand-new Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip from Qualcomm – an updated version of the chipset used by the Meta Quest Pro, and slightly more powerful than the XR2 Gen 2 found in the Meta Quest 3.

The upshot is that this platform can now support two displays at 4.3K resolution running at up to 90fps. It can also manage over 12 separate camera inputs that VR headsets will rely on for tracking – including controllers, objects in the space, and face movements – and it has more advanced AI capabilities, 2.5x better GPU performance, and Wi-Fi 7 (as well as 6 and 6E).

Saying that, several leakers have teased that the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 3 is approaching. If it is coming sooner rather than later its significant power increase might convince Samsung to upgrade its hardware to this newer chipset, especially given it's meant to be a much closer competitor to the Apple Vision Pro's chip (the M2).

This pipe dream has recently become a lot more likely with Meta announcing Horizon OS is coming to third-party VR headsets – starting with Asus, Lenovo and Xbox devices – but it's still unlikely given Samsung is already officially partnered with Google (and we assume this is for software/OS help like with its Android phones).

But the Quest platform is just so good; by far the best we’ve seen on standalone VR headsets. It’s clean, feature-packed, and home to the best library of VR games and apps out there. The only platform that maybe beats it is Steam, but that’s only for people who want to be tethered to a PC rig.

By partnering with Meta, Samsung’s headset would get all of these benefits, and Meta would have the opportunity to further establish its OS as the Windows or Android of the spatial computing space – which could be both a great and terrible thing.

There’s only been one successful mainstream VR headset so far: the Oculus Quest 2. The Meta-made device has accounted for the vast, vast majority of VR headset sales over the past few years (eclipsing the total lifetime sales of all previous Oculus VR headsets combined in just five months) and that’s down to one thing; it’s so darn cheap.

Other factors (like a pandemic that forced everyone inside) probably helped a bit. But fundamentally, getting a solid VR headset for $299 / £299 / AU$479 is a very attractive offer. It could be better specs-wise but it’s more than good enough and offers significantly more bang for your buck than the PC-VR rigs and alternative standalone headsets that set you back over $1,000 when you factor in everything you need.

Meta’s Quest Pro, the first headset it launched after the Quest 2 that has a much more premium $999 / £999 / AU$1,729 price (it launched at $1,500 / £1,500 / AU$2,450) has seemingly sold significantly worse. We don’t have exact figures but using the Steam Hardware Survey figures for December 2023 we can see that while 37.87% of Steam VR players use a Quest 2 (making it the most popular option, and more than double the next headset) only 0.44% use a Quest Pro – that’s about 86 times less.

So by making its headset affordable, Samsung would likely be in a win-win situation. We win because its headset isn’t ridiculously pricey like the $3,499 (around £2,800 / AU$5,300) Apple Vision Pro. Samsung wins because its headset has the best chance of selling super well.

We’ll have to wait and see what’s announced by Samsung, but we suspect we’ll be disappointed on the price front. A factor that could keep this device from becoming one of the best VR headsets out there.

We’ve combined two smaller points into one for this last ‘what we want to see’.

Hand tracking is neat, but ideally it’ll just be an optional feature on the upcoming Samsung VR headset rather than the only way to operate it – which is the case with the Vision Pro.

Most VR apps are designed with controllers in mind, and because most headsets now come with handsets that have similar button layouts it’s a lot easier to port software to different systems.

There are still challenges, but if your control scheme doesn’t need to be reinvented, developers have told us that’s a massive time-saver. So having controllers with this standard layout could help Samsung get a solid library of games and apps on its system by making it easier for developers to bring their software to it.

We’d also like it to be easy for glasses wearers to use the new Samsung VR headset. The Vision Pro’s prescription lenses solution is needlessly pricey when headsets like the Quest 2 and Quest 3 have a free in-built solution for the problem – an optional spacer or way to slightly extend the headset so it’s further from your face leaving room for specs.

Ideally, Samsung’s VR headset would also have a free and easy solution for glasses wearers, too.

Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for TechRadar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.

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