Qualcomm, Samsung, and Google introduced their partnership to construct an XR headset on the Unpacked occasion in Feb. 2023.
Screenshot by ZDNET
Based on new stories 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 mission and delayed the launch.
The JoonAng stories that Samsung has now commissioned increased decision screens from Samsung Show for its XR headset to match the shocking 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 product launch to the top of the 12 months.
Individually, Add VR reported that Samsung has additionally communicated to builders that its new headset will now launch on the finish of 2024.
The JoonAng’s sources additionally declare that the manufacturing goal for the Samsung headset might be a modest 30,000 models for 2024. By comparability, Apple’s manufacturing targets have reportedly additionally been scaled again from 1 million to 400,000 models of the Imaginative and prescient Professional for 2024. The value of the Samsung headset is reportedly anticipated to be round $2,000, which compares to $3,500 for the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and $500 for the Meta Quest 3 that simply launched in October.
Additionally: I attempted Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and it’s miles forward of the place I anticipated
This data joins a number of stories which have surfaced since this summer time that Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm determined to return to the drafting board after Apple introduced the Imaginative and prescient Professional at WWDC in June with high-end specs that shocked the trade. Nevertheless, as late because the Unpacked occasion in July, Samsung talked about its headset announcement being “not too far off.”
Samsung is designing the {hardware} for the three way partnership XR headset, whereas Google is growing a blended actuality model of Android, and Qualcomm is supplying the underlying chip expertise — most definitely the Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 Platform, which powers the Meta Quest 3 headset.
At CES 2023, I examined the HTC Vive XR Elite, which is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 chip.
June Wan/ZDNet
Additionally: Meta’s $500 Quest 3 is the mainstream VR headset I have been ready for, and it delivers
This type of reset is paying homage to the start 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 shortly grew to become 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 optimistic 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 its next-generation headset in mid-2024 — presumably on the summer time Unpacked occasion the place it usually unveils its newest foldable telephones.