Samsung plans to launch XR devices in 2025
It was 10 years ago during IFA that Samsung unveiled the Gear VR, a VR headset that used a Galaxy phone as its display and brain. A sequel followed and the company found great success – analysts reported that Samsung was the dominant VR headset maker in 2016. Of the 6.3 million headsets sold that year, 4.5 million were Gear VRs. The company also worked with Microsoft and built a Mixed Reality AR headset in 2017, but it wasn’t long before Samsung pulled the plug on its VR efforts.
That’s a lot of history, but it was necessary to explain why Samsung may be cautious to get back in the game. And it is being quite cautious. During MWC 2022, Samsung Electronics CEO Han Jong-hee hinted that the company is working on a new headset. Then in 2023, Samsung reportedly delayed its headset because of the Apple Vision Pro. During the July 2024 Unpacked for the new Galaxy Z foldables, Samsung mentioned its upcoming XR product again, saying that it is slated for release this year. But now 2024 is almost over – is the project still alive?
It is! Bryan Ma, an analyst at IDC, spotted a clue during Samsung’s recent presentation for investors. Under the 2025 Outlook heading, a paragraph reads “Improve connectivity among products, including upcoming XR devices, to further elevate user experiences in the Galaxy ecosystem”. Yes, devices, plural. And this just after explaining the plans to boost Galaxy S25 series sales.
A slide from Samsung’s Q3 financial report
This suggests that the early 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event that will introduce the S25 series will also show off Samsung’s XR headset. But given the number of delays we’ve had so far, it’s not a sure thing.
Samsung isn’t working on this alone, by the way. This is a partnership between Samsung, Google and Qualcomm (as mentioned during a 2023 Unpacked event). Google will likely provide the base software, while Qualcomm will contribute the chipset. The Meta Quest 3, for example, runs a custom build of Android on a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, so this is a known, successful recipe.
There has been talk that the headset will use micro-OLED displays with a higher pixel count and higher brightness than the LCDs used in Quest headsets. It’s not clear whether this will be a Samsung-made display or not. Anyway, Samsung has other components it could contribute too. For example, late last year it unveiled an ISOCELL sensor with an integrated depth-sensing ISP that can be used in XR headsets for tracking.
Samsung Galaxy S25 rumors have been making the rounds for a few months now and will only get more detailed as January approaches, the likely time frame for launch. We will keep our ears to the ground for any mentions of XR devices that might arrive alongside the flagship phones.
