- Samsung’s latest earnings report confirms plans for “XR devices” in 2025.
- The company has already expressed interest in an XR headset, and this suggests it’s still a priority.
- Separately, an old patent application is inspiring speculation about how this new hardware might take shape.
Are we in the early days of an AR/VR/MR renaissance, or just watching the latest attempts of companies trying and failing to make their various extended reality (XR) efforts stick? On one hand, we have rumors about Apple shutting down Vision Pro production, and on the other we’ve got Meta bringing high-quality VR to the masses with the new Quest 3S. A crossroads like this can be a big opportunity for players in a position to take advantage of it, and right now Samsung’s looking like it might be in just the right spot.
Samsung flirted with VR early on with the Gear VR, even partnering with Oculus, before abandoning those efforts at the turn of the decade. But earlier this year, it seemed that the spark had retuned, and we started hearing serious chatter about Samsung’s renewed interest in XR. With even the Play Store getting ready for XR apps, our biggest question has been when we might see this new hardware land, and that’s looking more and more firmly like “sometime next year.”