Samsung Galaxy XR With Android XR Out Now For $1800, Controllers $250

Samsung Galaxy XR with Google’s Android XR is available now in the US & South Korea for $1799, and its controllers are $249 extra.

The launch comes almost three years after Samsung first announced that it was working on a standalone XR headset, with Google handling much of the software and Qualcomm providing the chipset, and almost a year after it formally unveiled it as “Project Moohan” as Google revealed Android XR.

Galaxy XR is a high-end standalone headset with 4K micro-OLED displays, hand tracking, eye tracking, face tracking, a depth sensor, and fully automatic motorized lens separation adjustment to match your interpupillary distance (IPD).

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It’s powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the chipset in Quest 3 and Quest 3S which has already shipped in Play For Dream MR, paired with 16GB of RAM. And it requires the included tethered battery, which Samsung says provides 2 hours of general use or 2.5 hours of video watching. Alternatively, you can plug the battery in for indefinite use.

In many ways, Galaxy XR seems to be Samsung’s response to Apple Vision Pro, aiming to offer a somewhat similar experience for people in the Android ecosystem at around half the price. Two key differences, though, on the hardware side, are the rigid strap and the fact that it presses against your forehead, not the rest of your face.

Galaxy XR has a rigid plastic strap with a single mechanism of tightness adjustment, the ratchet at the rear, and a “halo” forehead pad with nothing touching your cheeks or temples by default – an open periphery design that lets you see the real world to your sides and below you.

For when you do want full immersion, there are detachable light blockers in the box that attach magnetically to each side of the headset.

It’s ergonomically very similar to Meta’s discontinued Quest Pro, except the battery is in an external tethered box, not the rear of the strap (Galaxy XR has no internal battery, and does not support hot swapping). Galaxy XR is also almost 200 grams lighter than Quest Pro was, weighing in at 545 grams, including the rear strap.

Compared to Apple Vision Pro, Galaxy XR’s design prevents you from leaning back on a sofa, bed, or chair, but Samsung tells us it prioritized weight distribution and making the headset comfortable for hours of use.

On the software level, Galaxy XR runs Google’s new Android XR operating system platform, with a Samsung One UI XR skin on top.

A huge swathe of flatscreen Android apps are available from the Google Play Store, with your purchases from your Android phone or tablet carried over, as well as dedicated Android XR apps for key Google services and select third-party apps and games.

For example, you’ll find Google Chrome with all your bookmarks and passwords plus support for WebXR, Google Maps with an immersive mode very similar to PC VR’s Google Earth VR, Google Photos with your entire library plus the ability to AI-convert any image or even video to 3D, and YouTube with immersive video and a multi-view mode for sports.

And embedded at the core of Android XR is Google’s Gemini AI. You can easily initiate a Gemini Live session and let the AI see what you’re seeing, including both passthrough and virtual content, for a continuous conversation with no need for constantly repeating a wake word.

Further, developers of some of the top VR games on Meta Quest have ported their titles to Android XR for the launch, including Walkabout Mini Golf, Synth Riders, Arizona Sunshine Remake & Arizona Sunshine 2, Cubism, Demeo, FitXR, Green Hell VR, Job Simulator, NFL Pro Era, Real VR Fishing, Thrasher, and more. You can find a full list here.

Some of these games require the Galaxy XR Controllers, which are not included with the headset. They’re sold separately, priced at $249, the same price as the PS VR2 Sense controllers for Apple Vision Pro.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about PC VR: Guy Godin’s Virtual Desktop is available for $25, with its “Monster” graphics quality mode that was previously Play For Dream MR exclusive, as well as foveated encoding to prioritize compression to where you’re currently looking. Paired with the fact that Galaxy XR supports Wi-Fi 7, on paper it could be the ultimate wireless PC VR experience.

Samsung Galaxy XR is available to order right now online in the US and South Korea, priced at $1799, and it’ll be in Samsung Experience Stores when they open. Samsung is also offering a finance option, $149/month for 12 months.

The Galaxy XR Controllers are $249 extra, and there’s an official Galaxy XR Travel Case for $249 too.

There are no announced plans for Galaxy XR to come to any other countries, though that doesn’t mean it definitely won’t happen at some point in the future.

If you buy Galaxy XR before the end of this year, you get a package of digital content called “The Explorer Pack”. This includes 12 months of Google AI Pro, YouTube Premium, Google Play Pass, and NBA League Pass, 3 months of YouTube TV for $1/month, Project Pulsar from Adobe, Asteroid, and Calm. Samsung and Google say The Explorer Pack is worth over $1000.