Ahead of today’s announcement about the Galaxy XR, I was able to go to New York for a briefing on Samsung’s new headset and spend some time with it. Now, unfortunately, unlike with smartphones, we don’t get to spend hours with the device at these events; instead, we’re limited to about 30 minutes. But that was enough to sell me on the Galaxy XR.
Now, given the price tag, the Galaxy XR headset is obviously mostly going after the Apple Vision Pro. So we’ll be comparing it to Vision Pro quite a bit. But let’s get that price out of the way. So, Samsung’s Galaxy XR is not going to be cheap, but it will be far cheaper than Vision Pro, with a $1,799 price tag. Honestly, that’s not bad. That’s cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
One thing I noticed immediately with the Galaxy XR compared to the Vision Pro was the weight. The Galaxy XR is far more comfortable to wear and weighs about 100g less. In fact, after wearing it for 30 minutes, it did not get uncomfortable at all. It was about as uncomfortable as wearing my Meta Ray-Ban glasses.
Samsung Galaxy XR
– $1,799
Experience new worlds with the Galaxy XR, starting at $1,799. Order before the end of 2025 to get the Explorer Pack which includes 12 months of Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and XR Pack of specialized XR content.
Speaking of glasses, Samsung has made the Galaxy XR capable of using prescription lenses. So during my demo, I was able to see everything crystal clear, and it only takes a few seconds to put those prescription lenses into the Galaxy XR headset. Which is really great for those of us who have terrible eyesight.
Let’s talk about those displays. Samsung is using higher resolution 4K OLED displays here on the Galaxy XR versus what Apple has. And these displays look incredible. The passthrough is almost more crisp than real life. Which is an incredible thing to say, to be quite honest. And yes, there is passthrough available here, and by default the headset does have some light bleed. This is done so you can wear it safely. But there are add-ons that are included in the box to help block out that light if you are watching a video and want to feel truly immersed.
Some Vision Pro negatives exist on Galaxy XR, too
Now, it’s not all good news for Galaxy XR, as there are still some negatives that will sound familiar for Vision Pro users. The first one is the battery life and the external battery. So Samsung is using a proprietary connector for the external battery pack here, which ensures that you don’t pull it out while wearing the headset. That’s obviously a good idea, but a bit annoying since we can’t use our own battery packs for the headset.
Samsung does have a carrying case that will work for holding the headset as well as the battery and optional controllers.
Unlike the Vision Pro, there are controllers available. Samsung says that these are optional, and honestly, I don’t think you need them. I did my demo without the controllers, and I had absolutely no issues with navigation. Of course, that is thanks to all of the cameras included on the headset.
Battery life is rated at 2 hours of mixed use, or about 2.5 hours of video playback. A bit interesting that video playback is longer than mixed use. Of course, my demo was only about a half hour long, so there wasn’t much time to really judge battery life.
Android XR is fully baked
Let’s not forget, this is the first device to be released with Android XR. Google first announced Android XR back in December 2024, as a new platform for its partners to build XR devices, though so far it’s really only Samsung using this platform. No one else has announced plans for an Android XR device, just yet.
But Samsung does have the Galaxy XR, plus a pair of AI glasses – these are most likely the Gemini Glasses we demoed at Google I/O earlier this year.
Now, as far as the software goes, the platform is very fluid, actually. This is running on the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which is no slouch, either. All of Google’s apps are here, in fact, all Android apps from the Play Store can actually be used on Galaxy XR, but some are optimized for XR, like YouTube, Chrome, and Google Photos.
There are some really cool features, like in Google Photos where the photos get some depth and can actually play like a short gif. You can view these as a regular picture in front of you, or in immersive mode, to really feel, well immersed.
YouTube also has some immersive content available (as well as Netflix, though that was not in our demo). It’s really good looking, and I could definitely see myself sitting there immersing myself into loads of videos on YouTube.
Samsung and Google aren’t done either, they’re still building additional features for Android XR that will ship later on, like adding depth to all pictures on websites within Chrome.
Would I buy the Samsung Galaxy XR?
Now, the big question, would I buy the Galaxy XR? If I hadn’t had this demo, it definitely would have been a no, but now after experiencing how great of a product this is, I definitely want to buy one. However, $1,800 is still a big pill to swallow in today’s market. But on the bright side, it is cheaper than some foldables, and it’s something I’d likely use far more than a foldable.
The device is available for purchase today, not pre-order but purchase. Though, it is limited to the US and Korea.
Samsung Galaxy XR
– $1,799
Experience new worlds with the Galaxy XR, starting at $1,799. Order before the end of 2025 to get the Explorer Pack which includes 12 months of Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and XR Pack of specialized XR content.
The post I Spent 30 Minutes in Samsung’s Galaxy XR Headset… and I’m Hooked appeared first on Android Headlines.
