Five years after Samsung and Google walked away from their mobile VR experiments, the tech giants are staging a comeback—this time with a more ambitious vision for mixed reality. Their renewed partnership debuts with the Galaxy XR, first teased last year as Project Moohan. The device marks the arrival of Android XR, a next-generation platform for smart glasses and headsets built from the ground up on Android and powered by Google’s Gemini AI assistant. The Galaxy XR officially hits shelves today in the United States and South Korea, priced at $1,800—or $149 a month through a 12-month financing plan. While it’s a step above mass-market headsets like Meta’s Quest 3, Samsung’s latest device comes in at nearly half the cost of Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro, which the Cupertino company is updating this week with its new M5 processor.
Galactic Vision
I had another chance to try the Galaxy XR last week during a closed-door media preview in New York City, hosted by Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm. The headset runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip, but little has changed since my first hands-on demo last year (which you can read more about here). Back then, the biggest mysteries were the device’s official name and price—questions that have finally been answered.
The Galaxy XR aims to deliver nearly everything Apple’s Vision Pro promises. Slip the headset on, and you’ll see your surroundings through its pancake lenses while digital elements seamlessly overlay the real world—or you can dive fully into an immersive virtual environment. The headset relies primarily on hand tracking for input (though controllers are sold separately) and uses eye tracking to detect where you’re looking. Most of your favorite apps are accessible via the Google Play Store, with XR-optimized ones tagged under a new “Made for XR” label.
Samsung’s headset doesn’t quite match the luxurious feel of Apple’s Vision Pro. The build is noticeably more plastic, and the demo unit’s tethered battery pack had a few visible smudges and wear marks. Still, that lighter construction makes the Galaxy XR far more comfortable to wear for extended sessions. In my 25-minute test, it felt snug and well-balanced, though I did end up with a slightly sweaty brow. The headset grew warm across the top, but the battery pack itself stayed relatively cool. Battery life clocks in at around two hours—or up to two and a half if you’re just watching video—which roughly matches Apple’s first-generation Vision Pro. The updated M5 model from Apple, however, stretches that mixed-use runtime to about two and a half hours.
Each eye gets a crisp 4K micro-OLED display with a smooth 90-Hz refresh rate, and Samsung offers magnetic prescription inserts for those who need vision correction. The box also includes a magnetic light blocker for anyone who prefers full immersion with zero ambient light bleeding through. Once you set up the headset, it automatically calibrates your interpupillary distance (IPD), letting you simply look at an icon and pinch your fingers to select it. The interface feels strikingly familiar if you’ve tried Apple’s Vision Pro—it even supports iris recognition for biometric authentication.
One of the Galaxy XR’s most impressive new capabilities is its automatic spatialization of all video content. By default, YouTube videos and even local clips gain a sense of depth, creating a more immersive viewing experience. The effect works surprisingly well, and you can always disable it if you prefer traditional 2D playback. Another highlight is the new spatial multi-view feature on YouTube, which lets you watch up to four streams at once—say, multiple sports games—inside your virtual space.
Like Apple’s Personas, the Galaxy XR offers avatars for video calls and other face-forward interactions. You can choose Samsung’s Galaxy Avatar, reminiscent of its old Galaxy AR Emoji style, or opt for a more realistic Android XR avatar—though the latter may not be available at launch.
Google hasn’t outlined a formal update cadence for Android XR as it does for Pixel phones. Instead, the company says users can expect regular software updates that will not only squash bugs but also introduce new features over time.
AI Assist
Although you can pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to work inside a virtual environment, Samsung and Google seem far more interested in selling the Galaxy XR as an entertainment-first device. Slip into a virtual theater to watch your favorite movies, or check out Asteroid, an exclusive short film created for Android XR and starring Hailee Steinfeld and Ron Perlman. For gamers, the headset supports full PCVR connectivity, meaning you can plug it into a gaming rig and play PC titles—VR or otherwise—on a massive virtual display.
At the heart of the experience is Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, which deeply integrates into the platform. Gemini can narrate your gameplay, offer hints when you’re stuck, open apps on command, rearrange your virtual workspace, or even answer questions about a video as you’re watching it—all in real time. Just remember, most of Gemini’s smarts live in the cloud, so a steady internet connection is essential.
Samsung also spotlighted how the Galaxy XR could play a role in enterprise training and professional simulations. Using apps like ShapesXR, businesses can visualize how products might appear on retail shelves and analyze where customers’ eyes naturally land. Other demos included a surgical training simulator and a shipbuilding program that walks trainees through complex assembly steps. (Samsung says it’s collaborating with Samsung Heavy Industries on that one.) Google, meanwhile, confirmed that Android XR will soon integrate with the Android Enterprise Framework, signaling broader business adoption ahead.
