“Where are the glasses?” I couldn’t help but ask Drew Blackard, Samsung’s vice president of mobile product management, when we sat down shortly after the unveiling of the new Samsung Galaxy XR, Gemini, AI-centric space computing headset.
Blackard couldn’t share details but acknowledged, “It’s coming soon…And I’ll use those words intentionally in the sense that it’s not a far-off concept.”
Although the bezels weren’t visible at the Galaxy
“You could call today, I suppose, for a tease.” Although he promised we won’t have to wait too long, he added that we won’t see the glasses “this year.”
I pressed him a bit, though, asking if the release of the Galaxy Is this just a first step?
“I think so,” Blackard said. “I don’t think it’s out of order. In the sense that they’re very intertwined, and I think today’s announcement helped paint the picture.”
Examine an AI heart
With that slight disappointment out of the way, I turned the conversation back to the new headset, talking about the design choices and how they differ in fundamental ways from what’s already on the market (yes, looking at you Vision Pro).
The new Samsung Galaxy
While there are similarities to the Vision Pro, like the controls and even the external battery, it’s also very different. First, there’s that price, which is about half the price of the Vision Pro. Then there’s the weight, which is at least 65 grams lighter and arguably on a better balanced frame.
The big differentiator, however, is Gemini AI. This is the kind of Apple Intelligence-infused Siri Vision Pro control that I wanted but never came to fruition.
“It’s an AI device,” Blackard said.
I wondered if Samsung and its partners would have released the Galaxy XR two years ago when, for example, Gemini AI didn’t exist in its current form.
Blackard tried to put things in context for me and perhaps, without mentioning them by name, compare the approach of Samsung, Google and Qualcomm with that of Apple and its Vision Pro platform.
Since the Galaxy S24, Samsung has been developing AI phones for two years. Lately, it has even become a central part of their wearable devices, like the Galaxy Watch. “It became something that we all believed in – Google and Qualcomm included – and was an essential part of the experience,” Blackard told me.
The realization that you need a layer like Gemini inside goes back, sort of, to the days of the Galaxy Gear VR (that’s right, it’s not Samsung’s first VR-enabled headset). “User interfaces were difficult on these, or can be, historically,” he said.
Seeing immersive content in front of you doesn’t guarantee, Blackard told me, that you’ll know how to navigate an interface that “can be very complex and overwhelming.”
With Gemini plugged in on a deeper level, there may be no need to learn how to use the Galaxy XR’s interface. “You can navigate with your voice, speak naturally, and it becomes a multimodal interface,” Blackard noted.
Being able to interact with the platform in this way is part of what makes Gemini essential to the experience. Just as AI is a real layer of the system, what Blackard told me means it’s not something developers need to put in place at the app level, because “then you’re dependent on each app developer putting that into the app, and so the ability to scale the experience was difficult.”
Three friends
He then described some of the demos I saw that day, which showed how Gemini helps you navigate Google Maps or offered tips on how to play a game using Google Circle to search. “Maybe a very specific game, and at Samsung we didn’t know that the consumer was going to download this game and start playing it.”
It’s this organic nature of Gemini integrated into the operating system that completes the picture. “It becomes an organic interaction with almost every app you open,” Blackard added.
Where one could argue that Apple’s Vision Pro is the product of strategic, entrepreneurial thinking, the Samsung Galaxy XR is the product of three partners (and occasional rivals): Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm. It’s not easy to align the interests and demands of three tech titans. I asked Blackard if a company naturally takes the lead or is considered the tip of the spear. Was it Samsung?
Of course, from a design perspective…Samsung, of course, is leading the way in terms of industrial design and all the research and development that goes into making a product like this.
Drew Blackard, Samsung
“It’s an interesting question, and I would say it’s probably one of the most important collaborative efforts since I’ve been at Samsung. If you just take Samsung smartphones as an example, of course we use Qualcomm chips, and they’re a very important partner in that. We use the Android operating system; they’re an important partner in that, but ultimately the end experience is defined by Samsung.”
He adds, however, that due to the technical requirements, the final experience we see in the Galaxy XR could not have been achieved without the partnership. “Of course, from a design perspective…Samsung, of course, is leading the way in terms of industrial design and all the research and development that goes into making a product like this.”
And yet, because AI is so central to the experience in the form of Gemini, the Galaxy
In other words, Samsung is leading with considerable and much-needed support and contributions from Google and Qualcomm.
One thing I noticed missing from the Galaxy XR is Galaxy AI. Blackard confirmed that the new headset probably isn’t the sweet spot for Samsung’s own brand of generative AI.
“Most of the Galaxy’s AI capabilities are deeply integrated experiences within apps,” said Blackard, who described some of the photo editing and summarization features we now know on our Galaxy devices.
“It’s a little bit different in the use cases that we see with
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