Korean mega-corporation Samsung very much seems to want to carve up Apple on multiple fronts this year, and it’s found a willing partner in Google.
The Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event revolved so much around the official unveiling of the Galaxy S25 range and its inclusion of Google Gemini generative AI that it eclipsed news of the combination mixed/augmented/virtual reality headset that Samsung is building on the backbone of Google’s Android XR platform.
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As actual reality is already chock full of examples in which Google’s Android and Apple are locked in a death match, we welcome the news that this epic slap fight has entered a new plane of reality, that of virtual reality.
the apple of samsung’s eye
“Imagine being able to step into any world in an instant,” wrote Samsung in its press release, “from the bustling streets of New York City to the snowy mountain tops of the Alps. These worlds are no longer merely places to observe from afar. They can now be explored and interacted with simply through a gaze, a gesture or your voice.”
That was back in December, before we had a solid look at the headset. But on January 22 at Galaxy Unpacked 2025, they trotted out an example on the exhibition floor, and it does look an awful lot like the Apple Vision Pro.
OK, there may only be so many ways to design a pair of goggles. Just look at the ski goggle lineup at REI for proof of that. But some subtle changes or styling enhancements would’ve been nice.
It’s also interesting that Samsung chose to highlight uses for its VR headset that don’t center on gaming. Sure, there are realtors giving virtual tours of houses and museums giving virtual tours of exhibits that can be experienced through VR headsets. When it comes to VR in the public eye, though, gaming has captured the bulk of the attention.
According to Samsung, XR stands for “eXtended Reality,” an “umbrella term for technologies that use digital elements to extend or alter reality by merging the physical and digital worlds together. This includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) as well as other similar technologies yet to be developed.”
While we got to see the physical device, details on the hardware were very thin. We’ll have to continue waiting to see what sort of processor, RAM, and other goodies are packed into these babies.
And lest you begin to think this Samsung/Google meet-cute and blood pact against Apple has grown too peachy, notice that Google separately announced yesterday that it was investing $250 million in HTC’s Vive virtual reality business.
The HTC Vive is another premium VR headset that competes with the Apple Vision Pro, and so will naturally also compete with Samsung’s VR headset when it hits the market. So like any good megalomanic corporation, Google is playing both sides.
What a messy entanglement. As for when we can expect Samsung to release its VR headset, or even reveal its name, all we can say is the reality is that it could launch virtually whenever.
