10 years ago during IFA, 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 leading VR headset maker in 2016. Of the 6.3 million headsets sold that year, 4.5 million were Gear VR. The company also worked with Microsoft and created a mixed reality AR headset in 2017, but it didn’t take long for Samsung to ramp up its VR efforts.
That’s a lot of history, but it was important to explain why Samsung might be cautious about getting back in the game. And a lot of caution is being exercised. 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 due to the Apple Vision Pro. During the Unpacked for the new Galaxy Z foldables in July 2024, Samsung again mentioned its upcoming XR product and said it is set for release this year. But now 2024 is almost over – is the project still alive?
it is! Brian Ma, an analyst at IDC, saw a clue during Samsung’s recent presentation to investors. Below 2025 outlook In the title, one paragraph reads, “Improve connectivity between products, including upcoming XR devices, to further improve user experiences across the Galaxy ecosystem”. Yes, tools, plural. And this right after explaining plans to boost sales of the Galaxy S25 series.
A slide from Samsung’s Q3 financial report
This suggests that the S25 series will be introduced at the Galaxy Unpacked event in early 2025, where Samsung’s XR headset will also be shown. But given the number of delays so far, it’s not a sure thing.
Well, Samsung is not working alone on this. It is a partnership between Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm (as mentioned during the 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 it’s a known, successful recipe.
There is talk that the headset will use a micro-OLED display with a higher pixel count and greater brightness than the LCD used in the Quest headset. It is unclear whether this will be a Samsung-made display or not. Anyway, Samsung also has other components it can contribute. For example, late last year it unveiled an ISOCELL sensor with an integrated depth-sensing ISP that can be used in an XR headset for tracking.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 has been rumored for the past few months and as January gets closer, more information will be revealed about the possible launch timeframe. We won’t notice any mention of XR devices coming with flagship phones.
