Following Apple's recent move to upgrade the Vision Pro with the latest M5 SoC and a new band, Samsung and Google revealed the first Android-powered mixed reality headset to challenge Apple's Vision Pro at nearly half the price. The Samsung Galaxy XR has dual 4K Micro-OLED displays with up to 72 Hz refresh rates (with 90 Hz "upon service request"), and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 SoC, which supposedly delivers 20% faster CPU performance and 15% faster GPU frequencies. The virtual display has a field of view of 100° vertically and 109° horizontally. Much like the Vision Pro it is meant to compete with, the Galaxy XR uses cameras for video passthrough, relying on two 6.5 MP sensors with 18 mm, f/2.0 wide-angle lenses.

The inside-out tracking uses six cameras to track the world and your hands, and the Galaxy XR also has a depth sensor and five IMUs (inertial measurement units) to accurately interpret head movements. Controls are handled by a mix of eye tracking, voice commands, hand tracking, or the Samsung Galaxy XR Controllers, which are designed for gaming. In addition to eye tracking, the Galaxy XR supports iris recognition for biometric access to both the device and certain apps. The headset also comes with dual two-way speakers and a six-microphone array with support for beamforming. The headset weighs in at 545 g, with an additional 302 g coming from the external battery that should provide 2-2.5 hours of continuous use, depending on the application. It is only available with 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, and there is no microSD expansion. The Galaxy XR is available now on Samsung's online store at $1,799.99.
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