features, price and technical sheet

Samsung has just launched its long-awaited rival for Apple Vision Pro. Your new mixed reality glasses are the Samsung Galaxy XRand certainly its benefits are promising.

We have a device that does practically everything that the Vision Pro does, but that also does it by opening a new alternative with the Android XR operating system. Not only that: they have achieved it with a lighter design and, above all, with a price that is half that of the Vision Pro. We already tested them at Google I/O a few months agobut finally we have them with us officially. Let’s get to know them in depth.

Technical sheet of the Samsung Galaxy XR

Light, promising… and much cheaper

The first thing that surprises about the Samsung Galaxy XR is its weight, which is reduced to 545 grams compared to 800 grams of the Apple Vision Pro (2025) with band included. Samsung’s intention here is evident: to ensure that we can use the glasses for prolonged periods without ending up with any discomfort or those marks around the eyes that the Vision Pro usually leave when used for long sessions.

The design of the glasses is similar to that offered by the Apple model, but here we have a kind of “visor”, a pad on the top of the glasses that allows us to barely receive any light from the outside as soon as we put them on.

The Samsung Galaxy XR look like somewhat bulkier ski goggles: the front is dominated by glassand behind it you can see several cameras that capture both what surrounds us and the gestures we make with our hands.

Inside it has micro-OLED screens that support 4K resolutions at 90 Hz but also allow you to enjoy 8K video at 60 FPS.

There are no specific details about the battery capacity, but Samsung promises that in general use it can last two hours and When playing video, this autonomy is extended to a maximum of two and a half hours. The limitation here is similar to that of the Vision Pro, although like them, the Samsung Galaxy XR can be used with the external battery (which weighs 302 grams, slightly more than a large mobile phone) connected.

There is another important element in this design: the strap with which we adjust the glasses cannot be separated from the glasses: it is a light plastic band with a padded back and a dial that allows you to adjust it firmly at the head.

This seems to be one of the sections in which Samsung has preferred to make sacrifices: the Apple bands are interchangeable and the materials are more advanced, but in the Galaxy XR the objective was to simplify that section and, we suppose, reduce costs.

In fact, the price is one of the most powerful arguments of this device: while the Apple Vision Pro costs $3,499, The Samsung Galaxy XR costs $1,799.

Practically half the price for a product that promises to do the same thing with the same quality as its rival. If it lives up to that promise, we are looking at a particularly attractive product.

A user experience modeled on visionOS… but with Gemini

Once we have them on, we can expect a user experience practically identical to that offered by the Vision Pro. To begin with, the cameras allow us to capture the outside and make we can see it at all times thanks to the passthrough which promises to be remarkable although not perfect: we will see everything around us, but there are still differences with seeing that exterior with our own eyes.

As in Apple’s glasses, Android XR and the eye-tracking cameras inside the Galaxy

The appearance of this interface is that of Android XR, but with a design and interaction that once again They are basically the same as what Apple proposed with visionOS. Samsung promises immersive environments, spatial photos – there is also the option to convert 2D photos into spatial photos – and the ability to connect to a PC or laptop to use the glasses as an external monitor on which to open several windows.

However, a potential advantage of these glasses that on Android XR we have the power of Gemini. The executives of Samsung and Google stressed in a conversation with the media that this device had “AI at its core” in reference to the ability to use Gemini to interact with the Galaxy XR.

This means that, for example, if we read a physical magazine with glasses on (thanks to passhtrough) we can use the “Circle to search” function at any time to obtain more information about a certain part of the text or an image. If we see an immersive 3D map in Google Maps, we can ask Gemini things about that area. And if we watch a YouTube video, we can open a Gemini Live session, share our screen with the AI ​​and ask questions about what we’re watching because Gemini “will see what we see.”

A section in which no details have been given is its possible use as an “external monitor” for PCs and laptops. Here the Vision Pro seems to make the difference at the moment, and what we do know is that it is possible to open several Android applications to use them on the glasses, and that includes a browser that allows us to work alongside windows of other applications on a somewhat more disjointed but equally interesting virtual desktop.

For now, yes, the focus is more on the entertainment part than on the “working” part with them, but the growing rumors about Android “desktop mode” enhance this capacity.

Now it remains to be seen if the glasses will manage to become something more than a “one-person cinema”, which is the application that usually dominates the experience among Vision Pro users. Gemini can help with this, but there is another additional element that also attracts attention: control knobs that can be purchased separately ($249, although there is a promotional offer during launch).

These controls seem to be an interesting way to take advantage of the glasses in virtual reality experiences and games, a section in which Apple has barely invested but that Samsung and Google could take advantage of in a more notable way. That doesn’t seem to be the focus for now.

Variants and price of the Samsung Galaxy XR

The Samsung Galaxy XR are now available in the United States and South Korea. The price is $1,799.

At the moment we do not have data on future availability and prices in other regions, but we will update this article if we get that information.

More information | Samsung