“Where are the glasses?” I couldn’t help but ask Drew Blackard, Samsung’s vice president of mobile product management, when we sat down shortly after the unveiling of the company’s exciting new Samsung Galaxy XR spatial computing AI-focused Gemini headset.
Blackard couldn’t share details, but acknowledged, “it’s coming soon… And I’ll use those words purposefully in the sense that it’s not a far-fetched concept.”
Although the glasses were nowhere to be seen during the launch of the Galaxy
“I guess you could call today, a provocation.” Although he promised that we won’t have to wait too long, he added that we won’t see the glasses “this year.”
I did press him a bit, though, asking if the launch of the Galaxy Is this just a first step?
“I think so,” Blackard said, “I don’t think it’s out of place. In a sense, they are very related, and I think today’s announcement helped paint the picture.”
Examining an AI heart
With that slight disappointment resolved, I turned the conversation back to the new headset, talking about the design choices and how they differ in some fundamental ways from what’s already on the market (yes, looking at you Vision Pro).
The new Samsung Galaxy
While there are similarities to the Vision Pro, such as the controls and even the external battery, it is also significantly different. First, there’s that price, which is about half the price of the Vision Pro. Then there’s the weight, which is at least 65 grams less and possibly in a better balanced frame.
However, the big differentiator is the Gemini AI. It’s the kind of Apple intelligence-infused Siri Vision Pro control you wanted but never materialized.
“It’s an artificial intelligence device,” Blackard said.
I was wondering if Samsung and its partners would have brought the Galaxy XR to market two years ago when, for example, Gemini AI did not exist in its current form.
Blackard tried to put it into context for me and perhaps, without mentioning them by name, contrast the approach of Samsung, Google and Qualcomm with that of Apple and its Vision Pro platform.
Starting with the Galaxy S24, it’s been two years since Samsung developed phones with artificial intelligence. Lately, it’s even become central to its wearable devices, like the Galaxy Watch. “This became something that we all believed (including Google and Qualcomm) was an essential part of the experience,” Blackard told me.
The realization that you need a Gemini-like cape on the inside goes back, in some ways, to the days of the Galaxy Gear VR (that’s right, this isn’t Samsung’s first VR-ready headset). “User interfaces were a challenge, or can be, historically,” he said.
Seeing immersive content in front of you doesn’t guarantee, Blackard told me, that you’ll know how to navigate an interface that “can be very complex and overwhelming.”
With Gemini connected at a deeper level, learning how to use the interface on Galaxy XR may not be necessary. “You can navigate with your voice, speak naturally, and it becomes a multimodal interface,” Blackard said.
Being able to interact with the platform in this way is part of what makes Gemini essential to the experience. In addition to AI being an actual layer in the system, what Blackard told me means it’s not something developers have to build in at the app level because “then you’re reliant on all the app developers to include that in the app, and so the ability to scale the experience was difficult.”
three friends
He went on to describe some of the demos I saw that day, showing how Gemini helps you navigate Google Maps or offers tips on how to play using Google Circle to search. “Maybe a very specific game, and we at Samsung had no idea that the consumer was going to download that game and start playing it.”
It is this organic nature of Gemini integrated throughout the operating system that completes the picture. “It becomes an organic interaction with almost any app you open,” Blackard added.
While one could argue that Apple’s Vision Pro is the product of a strategic and corporate mind, the Samsung Galaxy XR is the product of three partners (and occasional rivals): Samsung, Google and Qualcomm. It must not be easy to align the interests and demands of three technological titans. I asked Blackard if one company naturally took the lead or was considered the tip of the spear. Was it Samsung?
Of course, from a design perspective… Samsung, of course, is leading the way in terms of industrial design and all the research and development that goes into making a product like this.
Drew Blackard, Samsung
“It’s an interesting question, and I would say it’s probably been one of the most collaborative efforts in my time at Samsung. If we just take Samsung smartphones as an example, of course, we use Qualcomm chips, and they are a very important partner in that. We use the Android operating system; they are an important partner in that, but ultimately the final experience is defined by Samsung.”
He adds, however, that due to technological requirements, the final experience we see on the Galaxy XR could not have been delivered without the partnership. “Of course, from a design perspective…Samsung, of course, is leading the way in terms of industrial design and all the research and development that goes into making a product like this.”
And yet, because AI is so central to the Gemini-shaped experience, the Galaxy
In other words, Samsung is leading the way with considerable and indispensable support and contributions from Google and Qualcomm.
One thing I noticed missing from the Galaxy XR is Galaxy AI. Blackard confirmed that the new headphones are probably not the place for Samsung’s own brand of generative AI.
“Many of Galaxy AI’s capabilities are deeply integrated experiences within apps,” said Blackard, who described some of the photo editing and summarizing features we’re now familiar with on our Galaxy devices.
“It’s a little bit different in the use cases that we see with
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