Apple’s announcement of a new M5-powered version of the company’s Vision Pro headset was followed shortly by the reveal of Samsung’s Galaxy XR. The Samsung headset is competitive with the Vision Pro on paper, and much less expensive, yet still comes with an eye-watering price tag.
Both of these devices are undeniably cool to a VR and XR geek like myself, but still leave me scratching my head when it comes to the reason for their existence.
Apple’s Vision Pro Is a Glorified Tech Demo
Despite Apple’s marketing angle that the original Vision Pro was a tool for professionals and would revolutionize how people work thanks to “spatial computing”, few if any professionals that I’m aware of actually use this headset with any real regularity. Even the promise of virtual screens wherever you want them for your Mac probably doesn’t overcome the discomfort you get from trying to wear a headset for a full work day.
I never got the impression that Apple really intended to sell a heap of these devices, but at the same time, the recent upgrade of the Vision Pro to the latest Apple Silicon processor means this isn’t just another iPhone 12 Mini or iPhone Air that will be canceled after no one bought one. But, at $3,500, it was a hard sell, and probably proved hard to sell.
The new model is a significant improvement with better clarity, more comfort, and way more performance, while keeping the price the same. Which technically means it’s cheaper considering the wacky inflation we’ve had. Still, I don’t see this flying off the shelves, and I was expecting Apple’s next headset, if any, to be some type of “Vision Air” priced at something closer to $1,000 with technology trickled down from the Pro.
So far, this hasn’t happened, which means we’re looking at the second generation of a device that, although you can buy it if you like, doesn’t strike me as an actual consumer product.
Inexplicably, Samsung Has Joined the Club With the Galaxy XR
I never thought that the Vision Pro was a product worth emulating, but here comes the Samsung Galaxy XR, at almost half the price ($1,800) and promising a similar feature set. Of course, it’s going to have some corners cut compared to the Apple device. In particular, the GPU in the M5 is a real beast and a class-leading bit of silicon in its segment. Which is rather important for a visual device like this.
This is the first headset with Android XR, which means there’s now an Android competitor to visionOS, even if a little rough around the edges. Hopefully, we’ll see XR headsets with more sane pricing hit the market soon thanks to this more open operating system, and perhaps it will finally be a good mainstream competitor to Meta’s walled-garden too. Here’s hoping we’ll see Android XR ports of the most popular Quest apps and titles.
I Don’t Think People Are Supposed to Buy Them
Honestly, these high-end XR devices feel like the early days of folding phones. The first big folding phones to hit the market clearly weren’t ready for real-world use, and those early, well-heeled buyers basically paid to be beta testers for the hardware and software.
With Samsung almost halving the asking price compared to Apple, I expect more units to sell, but I still don’t think they’ll fly off the shelves the way that Meta Quest 3 and 3s devices do, which themselves aren’t setting the world on fire right now.
In both cases, I think the idea is just to show the world the technology early, and that you can in principle make a working product. Another apt analogy is the first generation of HD televisions, which were so expensive that only millionaires could afford them, but then within a few years they became as inexpensive as any mass-produced appliance.
- Resolution (per eye)
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2064 x 2208 (pixels per eye)
- Storage
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128GB or 512GB
- Connectivity
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Wi-Fi 6E
- Battery Life
-
Up to 2.2 hours on average
- Audio
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Integrated stereo speakers with 3D spatial audio
- Weight
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515g
Where Is This All Leading?
If we accept that both of these headsets are boutique items that, frankly, probably don’t have much of a profit margin if there’s any at all, then the number of units sold is irrelevant. It’s marketing for devices we might get. It also doubles as market research, but in the case of the Samsung device and Android XR, we might get more developer interest from third-parties, and again headsets from other brands using the same OS.
So, like you, I’m going to marvel at these headsets and the tech that’s packed into them, but then move on with my life because there’s no niche these can fill for work or play that justifies the sort of money I’d usually spend on a core tool like a laptop. When a $500 model drops running the same software and experience some day, then it’s time to take notice.
