Samsung finally showed off a glimpse of its Project Moohan XR headset yesterday. The glimpse was timed with Google's announcement of Android XR, a brand new platform for mixed reality headsets and smart glasses. Samsung's Project Moohan headset will be the first to ship with Android XR next year.
We've been hearing about a different kind of mixed reality device from Samsung over the past few weeks. It emerged that smart glasses would be the first such device to hit the market, and even though it has partly unveiled the headset, that doesn't mean the smart glasses are not off the table.
Samsung's smart glasses could see a more favorable customer response
Samsung has been working on its XR devices for some time now. It publicly confirmed back in 2023 that it was working on a new “XR Experience” in partnership with Google and Qualcomm. That partnership has resulted in Project Moohan, which ostensibly uses a Qualcomm chip and obviously runs on Android XR.
There were rumors about Samsung working on new smart glasses as well. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon mentioned during an interview a few months ago that Samsung is making mixed reality smart glasses that will also use a Qualcomm chip.
Subsequent reports out of South Korea have revealed some interesting details about this project. Samsung will apparently do a limited release in Q3 2025 with an initial production run of 500,000 units.
These smart glasses will reportedly be powered by Qualcomm's AR1 chip and an NXP chip as the APU. A 12-megapixel camera will be present along with a 155mAh battery. Google's Gemini AI assistant, which will do much of the heavy lifting on Project Moohan XR headset as well, will be present on the smart glasses.
While Samsung didn't say anything about its smart glasses yesterday, Google did confirm that Android XR will support glasses as well for “all-day help.” It also mentioned that “lots of choices” for smart glasses will be available, with Gemini providing helpful information such as translations, directions, and message summaries without needing users to reach for their phone.
Amid the excitement for the Project Moohan XR headset, Samsung fans shouldn't forget that there's another innovative device in the company's pipeline, one that could see a far more significant response from customers compared to a full-fledged headset.
