Qualcomm, Samsung and Google announced their partnership to build an XR headset at the Unpacked event in February 2023. Screenshot by ZDNET/Samsung
According to media outlets Upload VR and The JoonAng, the XR Alliance formed by Samsung, Google and Qualcomm to build a mixed reality headset has pressed the reset button on their project and delayed its launch.
The JoonAng reports that Samsung has ordered high-resolution displays from Samsung Display for its XR headset to match the surprising 4K for each eye (8K) displays – made by Sony – that Apple unveiled during the presentation of the Vision headset Pro.
This announcement helped delay the Samsung headset announcement from early 2024 to mid-2024. And to postpone the launch of the Samsung headset until the end of next year.
Samsung, Google and Qualcomm have decided to go back to the drawing board
JoonAng’s sources also claim that Samsung’s headphone production target will be 30,000 units for 2024. For comparison, Apple’s production targets have apparently been revised downwards from 1 million to 400,000 units of the Vision Pro for 2024.
Furthermore, Upload VR reports that Samsung has also communicated to developers that its new headset will be launched at the end of 2024.
This information is added to the numerous information that has been accumulating since this summer. Samsung, Google and Qualcomm decided to go back to the drawing board after Apple announced the Visio Pro at WWDC in June, with high-end specs that surprised the industry. At the Unpacked event in July, Samsung indicated that the announcement of its headset was “not far away.”
Samsung designs hardware for joint venture’s XR headset
Samsung is designing the hardware for the joint venture’s XR headset, while Google is developing a mixed reality version of Android. Qualcomm provides the underlying chip technology – most likely the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform, which powers the Meta Quest 3 headset that just launched in October.
This type of industry reaction is reminiscent of the birth of Android, when Google was designing its smartphone platform to be a BlackBerry-like system. That’s when Apple launched the iPhone. And Google started from scratch on its Android project. He made it a multitouch interface much closer to the iPhone. And Samsung naturally quickly became the main promoter of Android. And it has become the hardware maker whose smartphones are the best-selling.
The prototype of the Samsung-Google-Qualcomm headset has reportedly been leaked. Based on this information, it’s clearly designed in the mold of the early Oculus Quest and HTC Vive headsets.
I expect Samsung to design a much more compelling hardware product by the time we finally get a look at its next-gen headset in mid-2024. The announcement will possibly be made during the summer Unpacked event where Samsung usually unveils its latest foldable smartphones.
Source: “ZDNet.com”