October saw the announcements of two more devices in the rising eye tech industry: Apple Vision Pro (upgraded) on October 15th and Samsung XR on October 22nd. Apple isn’t new to the whole mixed reality headset world; however, Samsung is, and Samsung’s headset does look a little too similar to Apple’s…
If you’re unfamiliar with mixed reality headsets, they’re like VR headsets, except they have cameras in front to integrate your current environment into the experience. Essentially, you don’t have to be fully immersed like in VR headsets, but they do have that option as well. For example, you can watch a movie on Netflix while still having your living room in the background, or you can immerse yourself and watch it without your living room in the background. The Microsoft Hololens from 2016 is given credit for first starting this type of product. Though the Hololens looks vastly different from the XR and Vision Pro, it’s based upon the use of both Augmented Reality (adding visuals onto a space considering the 3D spacial placement) and Virtual Reality (immersing the user into a completely different experience), which is also essential to the alien-gadget-looking headsets we have today.
This industry has ramped up a lot over the recent years with each installment of the Meta Quests. In 2023, Apple joined in, launching the Vision Pro. For a long time now, the mixed reality world has been pretty quiet until Samsung made their entrance with the XR last month, the same month Apple launched the “upgraded” Vision Pro.
First, let me break down the changes between the original Vision Pro from 2023 and the one announced last month: latest chip and extra support band. Yes, that’s it. The “upgraded” version isn’t really all that upgraded. The chip got upgraded from M2 to M5, which does mean a boost in performance. At the same time, most users probably won’t notice a difference, since the M2’s performance wasn’t bad. As for the new support band, Apple added an overhead band, finally addressing people’s complaints about how the original model’s Solo Knit Band made the device very uncomfortable to use for long stretches of time. Again, no major hardware changes. Apple did emphasize VisionOS 26 a lot in the announcement for this device, and VisionOS 26 is incredible with its support for more 3D experiences and adding the mini games and widgets to your space seamlessly. However, this update is not exclusive for the upgraded Vision Pro’s, and it is available in the original model as well.
Back to the Samsung XR headset, its look is noticeably too similar to the Vision Pro with a similar support band, similar front glassy appearance. Even the UI looks similar despite them both running different operating systems — VisionOS and Android XR. The XR has the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip, while Vision Pro has the M5 chip. Both very powerful chips, but which is more powerful is arguable. A rather humorous addition that the XR has and Vision Pro lacks is a Youtube app, which is strange since the Vision Pro has been around much longer. Another difference is the persona of you displayed on video calls. On the Vision Pro, it’s a sort of digitized replica of you, while on Samsung XR, it’s an avatar. But the main difference is the price point. Apple’s device starts at $3000, while Samsung’s is at $1800.
What could both of these devices mean for the future? We could slowly be phasing away from technology as we know today. For example, in September, Meta launched their all new Meta glasses, the first model with an interactive display within the glasses. And when Meta launched it, there have been talks of it potentially replacing our cellphones. Similarly, the Samsung discussed using the XR as a virtual desktop, or like a computer. Think about it, many people working jobs that require a computer invest thousands in a multiple monitor desktop setup. Imagine if that can all be replaced by one investment in an XR headset. Now, imagine this: everyone being in a shared virtual reality, like that in Ready Player One, which would be enabled by this device. This could make remote work easier and long distance friendships less painful. Of course, currently, the Meta glasses or mixed reality headsets can’t replace our phones or computers, but we’re not too far away from it.