When might Samsung’s Android XR headset launch?

Samsung capped off the Fold 6 and Galaxy Watch Ultra launches this week with a teaser that its new XR platform is “coming this year.” A new report offers more details on when Samsung’s Android XR headset will launch.

according to Interested in tradingThe current internal timeline for the Samsung- and Qualcomm-made Android XR headset — codenamed “Moohan” — includes a developer release in October. That will be followed by a consumer launch in March 2025.

There are no further details as of today about when the next availability will come, including how it will be announced and exactly what will be offered. For example, will there be a keynote address to consumers with October serving as a public announcement? Or will the devices be kept secret and announced by Samsung at a later date, with the fall focus on Android XR to encourage developers to improve their apps?

The headset was initially scheduled to launch in the first quarter of this year, with the Apple Vision Pro coming in February, but has been repeatedly delayed, with company leaders “fearing the device wasn’t good enough to wow users.”

Looking forward:

There is internal speculation that Samsung will be the first to make glasses equipped with Google’s augmented reality software, according to employees familiar with the matter.

Google itself has no plans to make consumer AR devices. “Google is out of the first-party game for glasses for the foreseeable future,” one employee said in a report today. In January, Google laid off its AR hardware team, which was supposed to work on Iris. That project was a result of the North acquisition in 2020 and was canceled in June 2023.

This decision may help convince partners that Google will not compete with its own devices in the near future.

Google is making display prototypes with a microLED company (Raxium) it bought in 2022 to showcase its program to partners. (The Project Astra glasses show at I/O could be seen as an example of this, rather than an actual direction for the project.) Last month, as part of a broader reorganization, it brought that display team into the Android XR division.

With Samsung setting the date this week, we hope things are on track now and won’t be delayed again.