- Samsung is holding a virtual event on October 21 to announce an Android XR device
- Buyers who reserve one now can get $100 credit for other Samsung gear
- Samsung, with Qualcomm and Google, has been teasing Project Moohan for months
Samsung has announced that it will be announcing its new XR headset running Android XR. The new device and possible Apple Vision Pro competitor, currently called Project Moohan, will be revealed on October 21 at 10pm EDT (or 11am Wednesday in Samsung’s home town Korean time) at an event titled Worlds Wide Open. We don’t know much about the device or Samsung’s launch plans, but if your interest is already piqued, you can register to buy the headset now and get a small bonus for your faith.
Samsung has been teasing Project Moohan for quite a while, and the device made a cameo appearance last month at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit… under glass. We haven’t seen an official working prototype yet. The new headset will presumably use Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon XR2 chipset, but many questions about its specs and capabilities remain.
Hopefully those questions will all be answered in one week, because Samsung is ready to start taking money for this headset. If you reserve a Moohan — and that probably won’t be the headset’s final name — Samsung will give you a $100 credit towards other Samsung gear, after you complete your purchase.
What we know about Project Moohan: not much!
That tells us a few things. First, real products will be in hand soon. Samsung probably wouldn’t offer a pre-launch bonus for a product that won’t be available until next year. Will the new headset be available on October 21? I hope so, but if it’s not I’d expect it will be in hands for the holiday shopping season.
Second, we have a slightly better idea of what Project Moohan might cost, or what it won’t cost. That is – it won’t be cheap. Samsung wouldn’t give a $100 bonus for a headset that costs $500 and competes with Meta Quest 3. This is going to be a more expensive – and hopefully more capable – XR headset.
The results of Project Moohan will also launch Android XR, Google’s new platform for XR software development. We don’t know much about the apps and features that will launch with Android XR, but we can assume Samsung will be the first of many device partners for Android XR, just like Android.
When we say XR we usually mean a mix of virtual reality and augmented reality. The latter involves using cameras to place virtual objects so they appear in your real world space. Of course, smart glasses are considered a holy grail for XR hardware developments. We haven’t seen smart glasses among the Project Moohan news and hints, but it’s possible we could learn more, or even see the first Samsung smart glasses, next week.
The Worlds Wide Open event is virtual, so you can watch on Samsung’s YouTube channel but it won’t be happening live. We’ll try to get our hands on the new Project Moohan Android XR headset as soon as we know what to call it, if not sooner, so check back next week to see if we know anything more.
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philip.berne@futurenet.com (Philip Berne)
