Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google introduced their partnership to construct an XR headset on the Unpacked occasion in Feb. 2023.
Screenshot by ZDNET/Samsung
In accordance with new experiences from Add VR and the Korean newspaper The JoonAng, the XR alliance shaped by Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm to construct a blended actuality headset has hit the reset button on their venture and delayed the launch.
The JoonAng experiences that Samsung has now commissioned increased decision screens from Samsung Show for its XR headset to match the stunning 4K-in-each-eye (8K) shows — made by Sony — that Apple unveiled within the Imaginative and prescient Professional. That has contributed to delaying the announcement of the Samsung headset from early 2024 to mid-2024 and pushed the headset launch to the tip of the 12 months.
The JoonAng’s sources additionally declare that the manufacturing goal for the Samsung headset shall be a modest 30,000 items for 2024. By comparability, Apple’s manufacturing targets have reportedly additionally been scaled again from 1 million to 400,000 items of the Imaginative and prescient Professional for 2024.
Additionally: I attempted Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and it’s miles forward of the place I anticipated
Individually, Add VR reported that Samsung has additionally communicated to builders that its new headset will now launch on the finish of 2024.
This info joins a number of experiences which have surfaced since this summer season that Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm determined to return to the drafting board after Apple introduced the Visio Professional at WWDC in June with high-end specs that shocked the trade. Nonetheless, as late because the Unpacked occasion in July, Samsung talked about its headset announcement being “not too far off.”
Samsing is designing the {hardware} for the three way partnership XR headset, whereas Google is creating a blended actuality model of Android, and Qualcomm is supplying the underlying chip know-how — almost definitely the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 Platform, which powers the Meta Quest 3 headset that simply launched in October.
Additionally: I attempted Meta’s Quest 3 VR headset and the blended actuality expertise was subsequent stage
This type of reset is harking back to the delivery of Android, when Google was designing its smartphone platform to be a BlackBerry-like system till it noticed Apple’s iPhone announcement after which began over. As an alternative, it turned Android into a way more iPhone-like multitouch interface and Samsung rapidly turned Android’s main proponent and top-selling {hardware} maker.
If this this reportedly leaked prototype of the headset — clearly designed within the mildew of the early Oculus Quest and HTC Vive headsets — was actual, then it is a constructive transfer the trio is rebooting their plans. I count on Samsung to design a way more compelling {hardware} product by the point we lastly get a have a look at their subsequent technology headset in mid 2024 — presumably on the summer season Unpacked occasion the place it usually unveils its newest foldable telephones.