Samsung reveals its plans to start working on extended reality devices

The Galaxy S23 series and Galaxy Book 3 series aren’t the only things that were announced during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event. The company also revealed that it plans to start working on extended reality devices as well.

If you’re not familiar with the term “extended reality” — also known as XR — it refers to immersive technologies that include virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. Although the tech giant didn’t unveil any devices, there’s a good chance that it is working on some sort of headset.

As to why a product wasn’t shown, TM Roh, president and head of Samsung’s mobile experience business, told The Washington Post, “We’re getting there, but we’re not too far away.” However, it may also have to do with the company’s understanding that they first have to establish a reason for consumers to invest in its XR product by building out its ecosystem.

“We believe that the ecosystem has to be somewhat ready for the product to be launched and for the product to be successful as well,” said TM Roh. “And as you know, there have been many attempts by other companies so far, but not as successful as had been hoped because perhaps the ecosystem was not as ready as it should have been.”

Samsung states that it’s working on the hardware, but has formed partnerships with Qualcomm and Google. Qualcomm is expected to provide the chipset, while Google will provide the platform for the device.

“Building upon our existing collaboration with Samsung and Google, we have meaningful plans to collectively drive XR devices and experiences forward,” Qualcomm told The Washington Post. “We have the foundation to make these opportunities a reality and drive the future of the spatial internet.”

In addition to these partnerships, it looks like Samsung will be tapping Meta and Microsoft for services. However, Roh didn’t get into specifics about these partnerships.

This won’t be the first time Samsung has stepped into the realm of XR. Back in 2015, Samsung released the Gear VR, a headset that used your phone to power the experience. It later released the Odyssey — which was built for PC VR — and a revised model of the Odyssey not long after.