- Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset is finally coming to the UK
- It lands on July 8, and will cost £1,699
- It lands ahead of Samsung’s Android XR glasses expansion
After months of waiting, the Samsung Galaxy XR headset is finally ready to bring Android XR to countries beyond the US and South Korea. A UK launch date has just been announced for July 8 at a price of £1,699, and the headset is available for preorder right now at Samsung’s online store.
Known previously as Project Moohan when it was debuted back in late 2024, this headset exists as a collaboration between Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm and showcases the best of each: Samsung’s hardware expertise is felt through the excellent 4K micro-OLED displays and comfortable design, Google’s Android XR software powers the beast with Gemini AI enhancements and a suite of Play Store apps at your fingertips, and Qualcomm’s chipmaking knowledge is leveraged through the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2.
TechRadar’s Lance Ulanoff got the chance to try the Galaxy XR when it launched, noting that it raises the bar while lowering the price for premium spatial experiences — check out his Galaxy XR review.
I’ve spent much less time with Samsung’s headset, though based on my hour-or-so demo at Samsung’s UK studio this week it was clear the headset offered some solid upgrades compared to my Meta Quest 3 experience — mainly those displays, and how impressive the visuals are.
If I could, I would have stuck Netflix on and just kicked back for a few more hours with a film. In fact, it was a delight to see a full suite of native entertainment apps (courtesy of the Android Play Store), something which is a little lacking on Meta’s hardware.
I’d also say my hour or so in VR was surprisingly comfortable — this is likely helped by the fact that the Samsung Galaxy XR is only 545g (just 31g heavier than my trusty Quest 3). This makes it a lot lighter than the Meta Quest Pro (at 722g), and the roughly 750g Apple Vision Pro, and so I’ll be excited to repeat my week-in-VR experiment from a few years ago.
A glimpse of more to come
The Samsung Galaxy XR seems impressive in its own right with its entertainment capabilities, solid selection of native XR (such as ports of existing games brought over to Google’s Play Store) and XR-enabled (2D apps you can place around your space as windows), and Gemini integrations.
I’m getting married next month, and we’re already thinking about our honeymoon, which we’re planning to take some time early in 2027. The ability to explore destination we’re considering in VR through Google Maps and street view — and even being able to visit attractions that have been 3D scanned by the owners — seems like an excellent holiday planning tool, especially for places I’ve never been to before.
That said, some of the tools feel like they’ll truly shine on AR glasses that you can wear all the time — like the headset’s circle-to-search function, which works both digitally and for the real world. I use my phone for this all the time, but having an even quicker way to visually search something I can see — such as details on where an outfit is from, how to care for a plant in my home, or more info on a landmark I can see, would be a major upgrade. It would be like a more precise version of Meta’s Ray-Ban’s look-and-ask tool, which I already use all the time.
That’s not to say the Galaxy XR isn’t its own thing, and I’m excited to experience it properly now that it’s landing in the UK. I’m just noting that some of the tools sound perfect for glasses, and as Samsung expands its foothold in this area — it just announced AI specs at Google I/O in partnership with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster — and I can’t wait to see what else it has up its sleeve.
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