Samsung headset development kits will be available in October before a consumer launch in March, Business Insider reports.
In early 2023 Samsung officially announced it was working on an XR headset, with Google handling the system software via a new variant of Android, now known to be called Android XR, and Qualcomm providing the chipset, which it later announced as Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the base XR2 Gen 2 used in Meta Quest 3.
Business Insider's Hugh Langley, who previously revealed the existence of Android XR before it was publicly known, cites "a person familiar with the internal timeline" as saying the headset was originally set to launch earlier this year, but the current launch timeline is now March 2025.
That same person claims "a developer version" will be available from October. It's unclear how widely available this developer kit will be.
Langley's report comes just days after Samsung publicly announced its XR platform is "coming this year" and Google confirmed it's still involved.
David Heaney
The long delay in Samsung's timeline may be because it significantly raised the goals and expectations of the project in response to Apple Vision Pro.
Last year South Korean outlet SBS Biz reported Samsung initiated a redesign right after the reveal of Vision Pro, which seemingly exceeded its expectations, and Langley's new report suggests fears by Google and Samsung of the headset not being good enough yet to "dazzle users" have contributed to the delays.
Langley claims Google's AR/VR teams have also been facing a "stream of exits" after layoffs and reshuffles, with multiple key employees leaving to work on Meta's AR glasses project.
While Samsung will be the first hardware maker to use Android XR, The Information reported that Google has also been pitching it to other hardware makers - though there have been no reports of other companies yet accepting. Meanwhile Meta too is courting hardware partners, recently netting ASUS and Lenovo.
