Samsung gave Android XR barely 5 seconds of screen time at Unpacked, but it still proved why it'll succeed where Apple failed

• Samsung teased Project Moohan AI capabilities at Galaxy Unpacked
• It also announced exclusive software from third-party app creators
• The presentation was light on the details

Samsung took a few moments – literal seconds – out of its Samsung Galaxy S25 launch event to talk about Project Moohan (its upcoming VR headset) and Android XR, and how the platform will leverage multimodal AI to bring awesome (but currently nebulous) upgrades to XR systems. Thankfully it had more to say in a separate interview with TM Roh, the president of Samsung’s Mobile Experience division, including one detail which makes me believe Samsung’s tech won’t crash and burn like the Apple Vision Pro.

Out the gate we have some bad news courtesy of the interview conducted by Bloomberg (behind a paywall): we still don’t have a release date for Samsung’s headset or AR glasses. Roh did reaffirm the consumer version of Moohan is coming this year, though he didn’t reveal precisely when, or how much it’ll cost at launch.

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Roh also added that Samsung is working on AR glasses – though again, he refused to elaborate on when they might launch, just that they would arrive eventually once they reach the quality and readiness Samsung wants (which Roh hopes is “as soon as possible”).

However, the good news is that Samsung and its partner Google seem to have understood their core focus shouldn’t just be hardware, but software too.

An important lesson learned

Roh reportedly said that one key part of launching the XR devices will be having enough exclusive, original, worthwhile content ready for launch. To achieve this goal Samsung and Google are apparently working with third-parties to develop XR software for Android.

Thank goodness.

I’m not the only one to say this, but a huge issue with the Apple Vision Pro’s launch wasn’t intrinsically that it cost $3,500 / £3,499 / AU$5,999, it was that it didn’t justify costing $3,500 / £3,499 / AU$5,999. Sure, it boasted incredible specs, but fundamentally it couldn’t do anything you couldn’t just do with a Mac or iPad and a Meta Quest 3 – pairings that would cost you significantly less. And it could do less than either of those pairings in some ways, because the Quest platform is brimming with exclusive software.

Apple had a couple of impressive exclusives, like its Disney Plus 3D content, but nowhere near enough to compete with the market at the price it attempted to demand. That’s why a year on from its release it just hasn’t had the staying power anyone hoped it might.

TM Roh’s comments at least show Samsung is aware of the importance of software, though given how badly people have been burned previously by other brands, I’m hesitant to take the comments at face value – not until we can see and try the software he’s teasing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m desperate for Samsung to succeed so Meta can face some proper competition – right now, the closest thing we have to a Quest-killer is the rumored Asus Tarius headset (which uses the Quest’s operating system because it’s a collab between Asus and Meta) – but until Samsung and Google show us the goods I’ll remain cautiously optimistic.

For now, we’ll have to make do with Samsung talking the talk, and wait and see if it can walk the walk when it shows us what Project Moohan has in store for us later in 2025.

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