This Is The One Samsung Device You Probably Shouldn’t Expect To See At Galaxy Unpacked

When the Apple Vision Pro was announced last summer, it reportedly sent Google and Samsung scrambling to find a competitor. Apple had been working on the technology for years, but despite Google’s years of experience with AR and VR, it seemed the company had been caught off guard and didn’t have a solution of its own.

AC Thursday

In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich dives into virtual reality topics—from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and more.

Fast forward a full year later, and neither Samsung nor Google have anything to show. We’re right around the corner from Samsung’s big annual Summer Unpacked event, where we expect to see the Galaxy Ring, Galaxy Watch Ultra, and the company’s latest foldable devices. But one big thing we won’t see is the Samsung XR headset — currently an unnamed product, but referred to in at least one patent as the Samsung Glasses.

Part of that is due to Samsung supposedly going back to the drawing board after the Apple Vision Pro announcement. The company was clearly planning something a little different for its debut XR headset and wanted to be more in line with what Apple is doing now.

But the waters in the XR market are uncertain right now, and it’s likely that neither Samsung nor Google knows exactly how to move forward. Samsung Glass is still in development, but a few setbacks have delayed its official debut.

Samsung Glasses and Android XR

Early leaked image of Samsung XR headset

(Photo source: @PlayGamesMovies on X)

The highlight of the Samsung Glasses launch — as I’ll call them until we get an official name — is Android XR. While this version of Android Also doesn’t have an official name yet, we know it’s a custom version of Android that Google is building specifically for AR and VR products. In other words, it’s the equivalent of the XR Wear OS on the best smartwatches.

It probably won’t be all that different from Meta Horizon OS, in fact, since the operating system that powers Meta Quest 3 is also built on Android. The difference is that it will be an official fork of Android, while Meta Horizon OS has more similarities to Amazon Fire OS, another fork of Android that also removed all Google services.

That last point is exactly what will set Android XR apart from the rest of the pack, but it also complicates things even more. Dev kits have already been shipped to a select group of people, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that things aren’t going as expected.

In short, developers are dealing with early development kits that are harder to work with than everyone expected. General stability issues and bugs are always a hallmark of the early days of software development—especially on new platforms—but some thought that progress on these issues would be more advanced than it is.

Samsung isn’t expected to make a headset without Google’s Android XR software, but early development kits are reportedly unstable and buggy.

This all seems a bit odd considering how cutting-edge Google’s Daydream VR platform was at the time, but since Google abandoned the project, they’ve likely had to rebuild a lot of things from scratch — especially considering how much Android has changed on a deep level since that project was conceived.

I’ve written before about how Google lost credibility in the XR space when it dumped everything it could in the early 2020s. It seems the company is trying to win back customers by offering funding to port apps and games to the new Android XR platform.

This isn’t surprising. All platforms do this to some extent, and it’s an important way to strengthen the ecosystem early on. However, not only have developers been burned by Google in the past — leaving many of them wondering whether any efforts towards Google’s platform even make sense — but it’s also been burned recently by Pico and its quick abandonment as a competitor to Meta Quest.

Google is trying to bolster its ecosystem by funding ports of apps and games, but it may not be enough to regain the trust the company lost in the early 2020s.

Not only does Android XR need to be stable and work properly when it eventually debuts, it also needs to challenge Apple and Meta in a way that makes consumers want to choose it over the other two platforms.

That brings us back to what’s going on with Samsung Glasses. Apple was recently rumored to be putting development on the Vision Pro 2 on hold to focus on a cheaper headset. Rumors have already been circulating that the Samsung Glasses will cost a third of the price of the Vision Pro, meaning it could debut for around $1,000 if the company stays on course.

If true, it would likely put Samsung in a similar price range to the cheaper Apple Vision Pro. That’s a good thing for everyone, since all the handsets — Meta, Samsung, and Apple — are on a relatively equal footing. They’ll all use similarly-resolution displays and be powered by mobile chipsets — the current $3,500 Vision Pro uses a MacBook chip.

Leaked Meta Quest 3s promo image

(Photo source: Meta)

This would simplify things for developers looking to get the most bang for their buck, likely giving many the ability to release apps and games on all platforms at the same time. The biggest problem with cross-platform development right now is the lack of proper motion controller support in the Apple Vision Pro, something the Meta already does incredibly well, and Samsung is rumored to be following suit.

But with so many uncertainties, it’s clear that Samsung isn’t ready to show off its products until later this year, at the earliest. Rumors have it that Meta will release the $299, competition-crushing Meta Quest 3s this fall, which could further muddy the waters for companies like Samsung and Google, making it harder to see a path forward unless one of the companies is willing to sell hardware at a loss for the sake of growing the ecosystem.