- Samsung revealed Project Moohan’s AI capabilities at Galaxy Unpacked
- It also announced exclusive software from third-party app makers.
- The presentation was light on details
Samsung took a few moments – literally seconds – during its Samsung Galaxy S25 launch event to talk about Project Moohan (its upcoming VR headset) and Android XR, and how the platform will leverage AI multimodal to bring impressive (but currently nebulous) upgrades to XR Systems. Fortunately, there was more to say in a separate interview with TM Roh, president of Samsung’s Mobile Experience division, including a detail that makes me believe Samsung’s technology won’t crash and burn like the Apple Vision Pro.
We have bad news thanks to the interview conducted by Bloomberg (behind a paywall): we still don’t have a release date for Samsung’s AR headset or glasses. Roh reiterated that the consumer version of Moohan would arrive this year, although he did not reveal precisely when or how much it would cost at launch. He also added that Samsung is working on AR glasses – but again, he declined to say when they might launch, just that they would eventually arrive once they reach the quality and readiness Samsung wants ( which Roh hopes will be “as soon as possible”). ).
However, the good news is that Samsung and its partner Google seem to have understood that their main focus should not only be on hardware, but also on software.
An important lesson learned
Roh reportedly said that a key part of launching XR devices would be having enough exclusive, original and interesting content ready to launch. To achieve this goal, Samsung and Google are apparently working with third parties to develop the XR software for Android.
Thank God.
I’m not alone in saying this, but a big problem with the Apple Vision Pro’s launch wasn’t inherently that it cost $3,500 / £3,499 / AU$5,999, but rather that it did not justify a cost of $3,500 / £3,499 / AU$5,999. Sure, it had incredible specs, but fundamentally it couldn’t do anything you couldn’t do with a Mac or an iPad and a Meta Quest 3 – pairings that would cost you a lot less. And it could do less than either of those pairings in some ways, because the Quest platform is full of proprietary software.
Apple had some impressive exclusives, like its Disney Plus 3D content, but nowhere near enough to compete in the market at the price it was trying to charge. That’s why, a year after its release, it just didn’t have the staying power we hoped for.
TM Roh’s comments at least show that Samsung is aware of the importance of software, although given how badly people have been burned by other brands, I hesitate to take the comments at face value – not until we can see and try the software it offers. teasing. Don’t get me wrong, I desperately need Samsung to succeed so Meta can face real competition – right now the closest thing to a Quest killer is the Asus Tarius headset (which uses the Quest’s operating system because it’s a collaboration between Asus and Meta) – but until Samsung and Google show us the products, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic.
For now, we’ll have to settle for Samsung talking the talk, and wait to see if it can walk the walk when it shows us what Project Moohan has in store for us later in 2025.
