Samsung’s Galaxy XR Mixed Reality Headset Is Here: Price, Release Date, Features

It has been five years since Samsung and Google stopped supporting their respective mobile virtual reality headsets. For a second try, the companies have partnered up with a bolder vision in the mixed reality space, starting with the new Galaxy XR. Announced last year as Project Moohan, it's the first headset powered by Android XR, a new platform for smart glasses and headsets built on Android and Google’s Gemini assistant from the ground up.

The Galaxy XR is available today in the US and South Korea for $1,800. (You can finance it for $149 per month for 12 months.) That's a leap over standard VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3, but a significantly lower price than the $3,499 Vision Pro, which Apple is refreshing this week with the new M5 processor.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

I was able to demo the headset again last week at a closed-doors media event in New York City held by Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm—the Galaxy XR is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip—but not much was different from my original hands-on experience last year, which you can read more about here. The official name and price were the two big question marks, but that has now been addressed.

The Galaxy XR purports to do nearly everything that Apple's device does. Pop the headset on and you'll be able to see the room you're in through the pancake lenses and layer virtual content over it, or whisk yourself off to another world. Your hands are the input (controllers are available as a separate purchase), and it uses eye tracking to see what you want to select. You can access all your favorite apps from the Google Play Store; XR apps will have a “Made for XR” label.

Samsung's headset is more plasticky and doesn't feel as premium as Apple's Vision Pro—I noticed the tethered battery pack on a demo unit looked well-worn with fingerprint smudges on the coating. But this general construction makes it feel significantly lighter to wear. I wasn't able to try it for a long period, but it felt comfortable, with the only issue being a sweaty brow after a 25-minute bout with it on. The headset was warm at the top, but the battery pack remained relatively cool. Speaking of, the battery lasts 2 hours or 2.5 hours if you're purely watching video. That's on par with the original Vision Pro, though the M5 version extends it to 2.5 with mixed use.

Photograph: Chris Velazco

You get a 4K resolution (micro-OLED) and a 90-Hz refresh rate per eye, and there are magnetic prescription inserts you can buy for the lenses. Included in the box is a light blocker you can magnetically attach if you want to isolate yourself from the outside world with no ambient light bleeding in. The headset will calibrate your interpupillary distance, and then you'll be able to gaze at an icon and pinch your fingers to select it. The navigation experience is very similar to the Vision Pro. (It even supports iris recognition as biometric authentication.)

One of the neatest new tricks is the ability to auto-spatialize all video content on the platform. That means, by default, if you watch a YouTube video or even a local clip, Android XR will add depth and make it feel more immersive, and it worked fairly decently. (You can turn this off if you want your 2D videos to look 2D.) Also new is a spatial multi-view feature in YouTube, allowing you to watch four sports streams at the same time, for example.

Like Apple's Personas, there are avatars on the Galaxy XR for when you hop on a video call (or do anything where someone may need to see your face). You can opt for Samsung's Galaxy Avatar, the styling of which isn't too far from the company's Galaxy AR Emoji of yesteryear. Or you can use a more realistic avatar via Android XR, though this may not be available at launch.

Google hasn't announced a software update strategy for Android XR like it does with its phones; instead, it said it expects to issue regular software updates, some of which will fix bugs and others will add features.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

While you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and work in a virtual space, Samsung and Google didn't spend much time on this front, instead opting to play up the entertainment capabilities. When you watch movies, you can plop yourself into a virtual theater. There's an immersive short film called Asteroid shot specifically for Android XR featuring Hailee Steinfeld and Ron Perlman, and it's available with your Galaxy XR purchase. And you can hook up the device to a gaming computer for full PCVR support, meaning you can play PC games on the headset, whether they're virtual reality games or not.

Since Gemini is core to the experience, you can have the assistant narrate what you're doing in a game, or ask it for suggestions if you're stuck. It can pop open apps for you, organize your virtual screens, and answer questions about a video you're watching in real time. Remember, though, that almost all of Gemini's capabilities rely on the cloud, so you'll need an internet connection to take advantage of it.

Samsung also spent some time showcasing the Galaxy XR's capabilities for training people in enterprise environments. Businesses can use ShapesXR to see how their products look on a store shelf, and even use eye data to see where a user's gaze lands on products on a shelf. There was a demo of a surgery training app and one for shipbuilders with step-by-step instructions on operations. (Samsung says it’s partnering with Samsung Heavy Industries for shipbuilding training.) Google says Android XR will soon support the Android Enterprise Framework.

The Galaxy XR Controller costs $250. So does the Travel Case.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

None of this is particularly new in the realm of mixed reality. Companies have been touting these kinds of features and capabilities for years, and it's hard to see whether reception will change. VR is now in its third wave—from the Oculus Rift in 2016 to the pandemic and now—but considering the lack of interest in Apple's Vision Pro, it's unclear whether Samsung and Google’s solution will fare much better, even if it's more accessible.

That might be why Google and Samsung are bundling a boatload's worth of free content with the Galaxy XR at launch. Dubbed the Explorer Pack, for a limited time, each Galaxy XR unit will be able to access the following:

• 12 months of Google AI Pro
• 12 months of YouTube Premium
• $1 per month for 3 months of YouTube TV
• NBA League Pass for the entire season
• 12 months of Google Play Pass
• Apps and experiences like NFL Pro Era, Asteroid, Project Pulsar, Calm

Whether or not Android XR is here to stay or goes by the wayside like the Gear VR or Daydream VR hinges entirely on the upcoming wave of smart glasses, which generally garner far more consumer interest than mixed reality headsets. Samsung and Google once again teased a pair of smart glasses at the end of the event last week, though the companies didn't share many new details.

Expect a wave of these face computers in 2026. Samsung and Google are working with Warby Parker, Xreal, and Gentle Monsters to deliver glasses on the Android XR platform, ready to go toe-to-toe with Meta's new smart glasses. Even Apple may join in on the fun soon.

Stay tuned for our Galaxy XR review.