• The Samsung headset’s design is reminiscent of the Quest Pro, but borrows several features from the Apple Vision Pro.
• The headset is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which supports displays with resolutions of 4.3K per eye at 90Hz.
• Samsung is the first to adopt the new AI-powered Android XR. Other Qualcomm partners like Sony, Lynx and XREAL will also launch headsets running the operating system.

Google has unveiled Android XR, its new operating system for virtual reality/mixed reality (VR/MR) headsets, augmented reality (AR) and smart glasses. The first device to use Android XR has been developed by Samsung and is currently codenamed Project Moohan (“infinity” in Korean). It will be available sometime in 2025, although it is not yet clear if it will be released to the public or only to developers.

This headset had been initially planned for a 2023 launch. However, Samsung and Google decided to make changes to the schedule after Apple unveiled its Vision Pro. In July 2024, Samsung announced that a new extended reality (XR) platform would be coming later in the year. But this time too it ended up delaying the release and with no specific date confirmed for 2025.

Source: Samsung

The headset’s design is reminiscent of the Quest Pro, but the battery is tethered in an external pack like with the Apple Vision Pro. The exact specs are still unknown and the few media persons who got to try the headset were not allowed to take any detailed pictures. Samsung only stated that Project Moohan is equipped with “state-of-the-art displays, passthrough capabilities and natural multimodal input”. The demos featured both eye tracking and hand tracking, enabling typing on a virtual keyboard. We also know that the headset is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which has a single-chip architecture that supports resolutions of 4.3K per eye at 90Hz.

Google also demonstrated various smart glasses running Android XR. These prototype glasses were reportedly of different sizes and weights. Some had binocular waveguide displays while others were only monocular. As part of its Project Astra, Google will soon begin real-world testing of AI-enabled smart glasses with a small group of users.

Samsung will not be the only device maker to adopt Android XR. Google has revealed that other Qualcomm partners like Sony, Lynx and XREAL will launch headsets running the operating system. Google also mentioned that there is an ongoing collaboration with Magic Leap on XR technology and future products with AR and AI.

Compared to Meta’s HorizonOS, Android XR will have the advantage of being compatible with Android apps on the Google Play store. These apps will run in 2D in what Google calls Home Space mode, where the user can multitask with apps running side by side. To fully access the immersive capabilities of Android XR, developers will have to “spatialize” their apps to run in Full Space mode, where only one app is visible at a time, with no space boundaries. Google has already demonstrated an Immersive View with Google Maps, which lets the user explore the world in mixed reality. YouTube and Google Photos have also been redesigned for Android XR.

Source: Google

Google wants Android XR to be an open and unified platform for any type of headsets or smart glasses. To do that, Google is supporting familiar Android tools and frameworks like ARCore, Android Studio, Jetpack Compose, Unity, WebXR and OpenXR from the beginning. OpenXR is an open standard that is royalty-free and Google will be expanding the specification with new extensions for Android XR. By being developer-friendly, Android XR has the potential to quickly become the largest ecosystem in XR.

Last but not least, Android XR will provide access to Google’s AI assistant, powered by Gemini 2.0. This is important because Meta AI is already available on Quest headsets and the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. Apple seems to be lagging behind, as Apple Intelligence support for Vision Pro is yet to be announced. However, an announcement may be part of its 2025 strategy. As for Google, it says that Gemini can understand your intent, helping you plan, research topics and guide you through tasks. You can have a conversation and ask questions about what you are seeing. In one of the demos, Google showed live language translation capabilities.

We believe AI can unlock practical use cases for XR beyond gaming and virtual screens, transforming the overall user experience with XR hardware. Google is clearly betting on this and it expects Gemini to be fully part of the Android XR user experience. For smart glasses, Gemini will even run continuously, instead of waiting for a prompt. However, this could lead to a compromise on battery life. Google has yet to finalize the design of its smart glasses, so we will have to wait to see what kind of display (if any) will be adopted.

Source: Google

With the launch of the AI-powered Android XR platform, we expect Google to pitch a wave of XR and smart glass partners starting in 2025. These efforts could finally unlock new experiences and drive growth in a stagnating XR industry.