No Tremor in the XR Market: Samsung Galaxy XR Will Also Struggle
With the Galaxy XR, Samsung makes an impressive return to the XR market, flanked by Google and Qualcomm. Yet, a true exclamation mark is unlikely to be made.
Samsung's Galaxy XR is an impressive device. But how will it assert itself in the XR market?
(Image: Samsung)
Five years after the end of Gear VR and Daydream, Samsung and Google are making a new attempt to establish themselves in the XR market. The difference: This time, it's serious. The Galaxy XR comes with its own operating system called AndroidXR, developed by Google, and uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips. The trio is banking on openness, scalability, and Android compatibility, offering at least on paper a long-overdue counterweight to Apple's visionOS and Meta's HorizonOS. However, the Galaxy XR will also struggle to establish itself in the market.
(Not Yet) Ready for the Mass Market
The hardware specifications of the Samsung Galaxy XR surpass those of the Meta Quest 3 and doesn't need to hide from the Vision Pro either. The design is chic—although clearly inspired by the Vision Pro and Quest Pro—and focuses on lightweight construction with an external battery pack, which is intended to increase wearing comfort. However, the rigid head strap could be a problem. If we've learned one thing about XR devices in the past ten years, it's this: no head shape is like another. Wearing comfort is a decisive factor in whether a headset is used long-term or gathers dust on the shelf forever. Meta's Quest series has also established itself due to its adaptability with hundreds of third-party accessories. Samsung may have unnecessarily tripped itself up here.
But even without comfort issues, the Galaxy XR is likely to struggle in the consumer market. Of course, Samsung is fully aware of this, as evidenced by the hesitant market launch. So far, the device is only available in the USA and South Korea. When it will be released in other countries is currently unknown. Initial forecasts suggest that the manufacturer plans to sell only around 100,000 units in 2025. This is understandable when you consider that Apple quickly revised its planned first-year sales figures downwards and Meta's established XR ecosystem is lagging behind its ambitions also.
The price, as is often the case, remains an important factor. While Samsung charges just under half the price of an Apple Vision Pro for the Galaxy XR, it is still a premium device with a premium price. $1,800 and more are price ranges that exclude many people, especially in today's economic climate. Furthermore, the clear benefit of an XR headset for the average buyer remains undefined. The application profile is vague and lies somewhere between entertainment and productivity—all things that a current smartphone can basically do as well. The target group is therefore, as with the Apple Vision Pro, rather niche: early adopters, XR enthusiasts, developers, companies. Samsung could have had it much easier.
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The Gaming Brake
The Galaxy XR is primarily positioned as a media and productivity device within the Google ecosystem, making it the clear Android counterpart to Apple's Vision Pro. Special attention is given to Gemini, Google's multimodal language and assistant platform, which is deeply embedded in the system. This allows windows to be moved by voice, translations to be called up, old photos to be colorized, or markers to be set in Google Maps. Apart from the Gemini integration and the AI assistant's considerable XR capabilities, many of these features also work fundamentally with the significantly cheaper Meta Quest 3, which also already offers an established ecosystem full of games, social VR experiences, and entertainment apps.
The Galaxy XR is hardly designed for gaming, which has proven to be one of the most important drivers for long-term user engagement in the consumer segment of the XR market over the years. Controller-based input is not standard; they are not even included with the XR headset. Developers would therefore have to retool their games and apps for hand tracking, which is rarely easily achievable, or simply hope that most buyers will also purchase the expensive VR controllers. This is economically unattractive, especially for small studios that make up the majority of the XR industry, and could lead to a lack of content worth buying an expensive headset for in the long run. Apple Vision Pro users are familiar with this problem.
The enthusiast buyer segment, traditionally important for XR headsets, will thus be fragmented. Whether PC VR users will switch is also questionable. While wireless PC VR streaming via apps like Virtual Desktop is technically possible, without a native and lossless DisplayPort connection, the Galaxy XR remains largely uninteresting for simulation fans. Potential latency issues during streaming could also be problematic for fans of fast-paced PvP shooters. VR gamers will likely be waiting for Valve's upcoming XR headset anyway and will then no longer be so easily lured away from the SteamVR ecosystem.
Companies as a Safety Net
However, the uncertain consumer acceptance could be compensated for by Samsung in the B2B sector. Gaining a foothold in the professional environment should be easier for the Galaxy XR than establishing itself in the consumer market. Initial pilot projects with Samsung Heavy Industries in shipbuilding or medical applications show where the journey could lead. The headset can be centrally managed via Android Enterprise—a plus point for integration into existing IT infrastructures—and Qualcomm aims to bring further business applications to the platform with Snapdragon Spaces.
Also not to be underestimated: For smaller companies, the price of $1,800 represents a significantly lower risk than purchasing a Vision Pro, which is more than twice as expensive. Even during the keynote, Samsung and Google casually demonstrated a use case with enormous potential: Gemini can generate 3D spaces for Google Maps from a handful of user photos. The technology behind it is called “Gaussian Splatting” and is particularly interesting for hotels, car dealerships, or museums—anyone who wants to visually market spaces gets a powerful tool here that makes an impression.
Android XR Will Outlive the Galaxy XR
Samsung's Galaxy XR is an impressive piece of technology, no question. But for the industry, the operating system is more important than the headset itself. Android XR is a customized Android system with access to all content in the Play Store. At first glance, this sounds like a lot, but it's only on the surface. The majority of applications run in two dimensions, as windows in space. Those hoping for a wide selection of true XR experiences will have to be patient. The necessary infrastructure for native applications is available, including hand, gaze, and voice control, but developers must first adapt their apps accordingly. Whether they do so usually depends on the spread of the devices, and here Android XR offers an advantage: it is a largely open system and not limited to a single device.
Manufacturers like Xreal or Lynx have already expressed interest in building their own headsets with Android XR. In the coming years, therefore, more, sometimes specialized XR glasses will follow, which can be offered at significantly lower prices and increase the chance of various new content. Devices specializing in gaming, XR fitness, or virtual cinema could be conceivable. Not to forget the much more compact class of smart glasses, many of which will also run on Android XR in the future. Google and Samsung have already announced smart glasses, and AR glasses specialist Magic Leap has announced a waveguide cooperation with Google has also introduced one. However, the openness of the platform is both a curse and an opportunity. Different hardware, inconsistent operating concepts, and inconsistent app experiences are a known Android problem and could also spread into spatial computing.
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The Beginning of a Long Journey
The Galaxy XR will not be a game-changer, but the starting point of a long-term strategy. Google and Samsung want to expand the ecosystem, allowing for further device classes to follow, including lighter AI glasses and specialized XR headsets. Until then, the Galaxy XR remains a well-equipped device with limited relevance. Those who already own a Meta Quest 3 or an Apple Vision Pro do not need a Galaxy XR. The rest first need to be convinced why an XR headset is worth spending $1,800 on—no easy task.
Gamers have always been a grateful target group in the XR industry, but they seem to be largely left out. Whether Android XR can establish itself therefore depends on three things: developer interest, device diversity, and application utility. The promise—as always in the XR market—is still greater than the reality. But anyone who remembers the beginnings of Android knows: patience can pay off. It's just that one shouldn't be surprised if version 1 doesn't yet deliver what the marketing promises.
(joe)
