Samsung and Google's Vision Pro competitor won't launch until late 2024, a report says
The mixed reality headset developed by Samsung and Google will be released in very limited quantities at the end of 2024, according to a report.
The headset partnership between Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm was announced earlier this year. Samsung will be responsible for manufacturing, Google will contribute the operating system and software development, and Qualcomm will supply the chipset. The (unspoken) goal of the alliance is to bring a product to market that can compete with or even outmatch Apple's Vision Pro.
According to a report from South Korean news outlet JoongAng, the mixed reality headset, internally dubbed "Infinite," will be unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked in the second half of 2024. The actual launch is scheduled for December 2024. According to the report, only 30,000 units will be manufactured in the first production run. Samsung is reportedly waiting to see the reaction to the product and how the industry situation is developing. The OLED microdisplay will be supplied by Samsung Display.
A continuation of the mobile platform war
Apple Vision Pro will be released in the US at the beginning of next year. In other regions, including Europe, the launch could take place at the end of 2024, in the same time window as Samsung's device. The latter is said to have been delayed after the unveiling of the Vision Pro in June, allegedly because Samsung wanted to tweak the design.
Both Samsung and Google have dabbled in VR technology in the past, but quickly abandoned their products. Their current efforts seem to stem from a fear of being surpassed by Apple in a new, potentially promising product category. With the entry of Samsung and Google, the existing platform war between Android and iOS is likely to extend to VR and AR.
Another major player in this space is Meta. The company has had the market more or less to itself for the past five years, and has seen some early consumer success with its Meta Quest product, which is mostly used for gaming. The upcoming mixed reality headsets will have a broader range of use cases and will likely be marketed as general purpose computers.
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