The landscape of mixed reality is shifting rapidly, and Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy XR headset is a primary example. As the launch vehicle for Google’s new Android XR operating system, the headset aims to strike a difficult balance: offering a premium, comfortable entry point into spatial computing while laying the groundwork for an entirely new software ecosystem — all while being just as much of a development platform as the Apple Vision Pro, at half the price.
Some developers may be enticed, but Google still needs to overcome its reputation for abandoning XR and burning many bridges in 2019. While the Galaxy XR will be the first Android XR device, it won’t be the last; Google is taking a much stronger ecosystem approach this time around and embracing AI as part of that.
As I noted in my recent Forbes coverage, Samsung is clearly aiming for the tech middle ground with the Galaxy XR. At roughly half the price of the Apple Vision Pro and three times the price of a Meta Quest 3, Samsung is chasing both Apple’s polish and Meta’s accessibility, hoping to find a sweet spot between them while delivering the most capable AI in XR. Having spent ample time with the headset, it is clear to me that Samsung has nailed much of the hardware part of the equation. However, the software experience reveals that Android XR is still very much in its infancy. The headset is a promising start, but requires more iterations to deliver a fully mature user experience. It reminds me of where the Vision Pro was at launch, before Apple successfully turned it into a mature and increasingly capable platform.
Galaxy XR Specs:
The first thing I noticed when I put on the Galaxy XR was how well Samsung executed the ergonomics. The headset uses a frame that feels ergonomically balanced. At 545 grams, it is about 30 grams heavier than my Meta Quest 3, but a forehead cushion and adjustable headband distribute the weight evenly. Crucially, it doesn’t rest on your cheeks at all, making it comfortable for extended sessions. That said, the external battery design is a disappointment. A counterbalanced battery placement on the headset itself, like HTC’s Vive Focus or Valve’s upcoming Frame headset, would have been ideal, although it could have further limited the headset’s 2.5-hour battery capacity. As it is, the tethered cable frequently gets in the way of using the headset while pursuing everyday tasks like doing the dishes or folding clothes, which somewhat defeats the purpose of a spatial computer. I also suspect that the limited storage option of only 256GB is a calculated cost-saving measure, effectively leaving the company with only one SKU to manage.
Passthrough — using cameras to show your real-world environment in real time — is super important for any kind of mixed reality experiences, and nailing that is fundamental. The Galaxy XR’s passthrough quality is quite good, although I did notice that the color grading seems to aim a bit warm compared to the actual physical environment. The eye tracking also received a noticeable accuracy update with the April 2026 release that required an eye-tracking recalibration.
Samsung has made some interesting choices regarding inputs. Alongside volume controls on the top of the device, there is a dedicated physical button to register Google Gemini. Eye tracking is as good as the Vision Pro after the update. Hand tracking is also available and (only in experimental mode) allows you to see your own hands. Before the updates to eye and hand tracking, I really appreciated the ability to choose between using a pointer and relying on eye tracking to navigate the UI.
Samsung did not send me controllers with my review unit, which is not a bad thing. Because this is Android XR, one could theoretically use any Android-compatible controller for gaming. Samsung’s official controllers seem fine, but the fact that they are launching as an optional add-on rather than being bundled in the box is a smart move. It means Samsung understands their value and exactly who they might be best for, without needlessly jacking up the base price of every headset by $200.
For productivity, the headset relies on a virtual keyboard, but it is currently not efficient to type on. I highly recommend pairing a Bluetooth keyboard or relying entirely on voice commands for text entry. Fortunately, one massive hardware win is the inclusion of an accessible USB-C port. You can easily transfer over content without needing to pay extra for an expensive developer strap — Apple charges $299 for one — which also means you can watch content locally at full quality rather than depending on network streaming. However, you are still limited to only 256GB of storage, which is not much for high-resolution or HDR 3-D content.
If there is one area where the Galaxy XR truly shines right now, it is media consumption. YouTube works great, and streaming 8K content is not only a breeze, but it looks really good. Even my older 4K180 video content is easy to watch on this device. I recently watched a 4K HDR YouTube video by CalebRated and was completely blown away by the visual fidelity and experience (something that Apple’s Vision Pro does very well, too). That said, accessing YouTube feeds doesn’t make up for all the showcase high-end content Apple has created for the Vision Pro. Hopefully some of the content creators that have developed for Apple Vision Pro can port some of their content to the Galaxy XR and other Android XR devices coming later this year.
Because there are practically no barriers to connecting storage or streaming content, using this headset makes me want to go out and create more 3-D content just to watch it back. However, it’s worth noting that Google’s spatialized images don’t feel as in-depth as what Apple has achieved with its spatial conversion from 2-D to 3-D. Google’s approach seems to offer the lowest grade of conversion, even when using images that were natively captured with depth data. There’s plenty of room for improvement for Google here, as Apple has also iterated quite a bit with its 2-D-to-3-D conversions and has recently settled on a Gaussian splatting technique.
Powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip, Google’s Gemini AI feels responsive and is heavily integrated into the Galaxy XR experience. It works well as an assistant, offering some of the most intuitive conversations to date and enabling a better UI, though it seems to be slightly less accurate than its browser counterpart. Thanks to passthrough, it has the ability see not only what you are looking at virtually (via YouTube, Netflix, etc.) but also what’s in the real world and explain that or answer questions related to it.
The Galaxy XR struggles most with its software. Right now, Android XR simply feels un-Android. For an OS built on openness, sharing is surprisingly difficult; watching a video doesn’t allow me to actually share it anywhere easily. Importing smartphone content and apps isn’t nearly as seamless as it should be, and the phone integration overall feels incredibly limited. Integration should have many more capabilities than just pushing notifications and phone calls to your face.
Furthermore, the lack of widgets is deeply disappointing, considering they are one of the features that originally made Android so popular. The app ecosystem is currently inconsistent, fragmented between apps “Made for XR” and those that are merely “XR Ready.” There simply aren’t enough apps to make the experience sticky enough to use it every day. (The Vision Pro has the same problem.)
Even PC streaming and productivity feel unnecessarily walled off. Native PC streaming works only with Samsung devices using a Samsung account, seemingly piggybacking on some of the tablet-sharing and second-screen capabilities the company already has. There is what Samsung calls game streaming, which allows you to connect any Windows PC that can run SteamVR to stream your Steam games, but I couldn’t get that to work. There are also third-party solutions like Virtual Desktop that I think will probably be more reliable; if you buy one of these, you can stream your PC to the headset that way. Apple’s implementation feels far better thought out; I would like to see that level of simplicity and customization here as well.
On the plus side, the Galaxy XR takes the things I like about the Vision Pro, mixes them with what I like about Meta’s headsets, and sprinkles Gemini AI on top. Many of my frustrations with the Galaxy XR and Android XR seem to be issues that Apple has already resolved. This device, and Android XR as a whole, simply need time to iterate to deliver a mature operating system and user experience. We’ve already seen this happen with the April update, but that was also the first update to the Galaxy XR since its launch in October 2025. The Android XR team is going to have to iterate faster if it wants to catch up with where Apple is today.
With Meta’s ambitions in the XR space pivoting towards AI glasses, it seems that its mixed reality and VR headsets are sitting on the back burner. That said, Google’s Android XR supports all types of XR headsets with a single operating system, so the updates it delivers reach all devices. Perhaps Google’s lack of frequent updates to Android XR on the GalaxyXR might be due to resources being focused on bringing up Android XR on the upcoming Google AI glasses.
Still, my biggest concern right now is the cadence of iterations. I expect significant updates at Google I/O in May. Competitors like Apple and Meta are updating their headsets regularly, so Samsung and Google need to accelerate their software support to ensure that this great hardware reaches its full potential.
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