Samsung Galaxy XR tipped to be sharper, lighter than Vision Pro as renders and specifications leak ahead of launch

For a while now, Samsung has been working on its version of Apple’s Vision Pro headset. Codenamed ‘Project Moohan’ and likely to be called Galaxy XR, the headset will run on Google’s Android XR platform. While the company has shared images of the headset and MKBHD’s video from January this year showed a hands-on with the it, a bunch of additional information, along with official renders has now leaked.

XR or eXtended Reality is a mix of AR, VR, and MR, which is essentially what Apple does with its Vision Pro. Samsung’s offering, while borrowing some of the design from Apple’s premium headset, is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 SoC and runs Android XR OS. Samsung and Google have worked together to develop this platform and from MKBHD’s first impressions, it works quite well. Along with the design and software details, the video also revealed that the headset will come with Gemini integration and have some spacial apps that have been tuned for the platform.

Coming to the renders and new details shared by Android Headlines, Project Moohan or Galaxy XR will feature 4K micro-OLED displays, which the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 is capable of pushing, with a 4,032 PPI pixel density. This will amount to 29 million pixels total which is more than the 23 million pixels the Vision Pro delivers. The refresh rate is still a mystery. There are six cameras (four at the front + two at the bottom) for hand and gesture tracking as well as a depth sensor around the forehead area. Two more at the front act as world-facing cameras. Facing the user are four eye-tracking cameras to detect movement and see where the user is looking.

While there isn’t a display on the outside that shows the user’s eyes like the Vision Pro, there is an LED that indicates the activity status of the headset. There are speakers on the left and right side facing the user, along with the touchpad on the right side. Galaxy XR is said to come with two controllers, though most of the operations can be performed with a combination of hand gestures and voice.

Samsung has also decided to go with the external battery pack but as shown in MKBHD’s video, it uses a USB Type-C connection which allows for using larger capacity battery banks and not just the Samsung provided battery. Speaking of which, the report states that the headset will last two hours with general use and 2.5 hours with video playback. Lastly, Galaxy XR is said to weigh 545 grams, which is lighter than the Vision Pro. The strap for the headset does not have a top head strap but the lighter weight should allow the current design to keep the headset in place. 

Samsung is expected to announce the headset this year but it is unclear exactly when that will be.