It's an exciting time to be a VR nerd.
You have all sorts of things to hope for. Meta is driving the price of headsets down while still delivering a complete XR experience. Apple is pushing the boundaries of fidelity and UI, and companies like Xreal are giving us a template for what honest-to-God AR glasses might look like.
And now, right on schedule, Samsung and Google are entering an increasingly crowded XR arena, making the most exciting space in consumer tech (at least in my opinion) even more exciting.
Samsung and Google's XR ambitions
If a pair of Samsung smart glasses weren't enough to get you going then a recent teaser should do the trick.
On Thursday, Google and Samsung took the wraps off their joint ambitions in XR, which includes a platform based on Android but also real, tangible hardware to go along with it.
Introducing: the Vision Pr — I mean... Project Moohan.
The first thing you'll probably notice about Project Moohan is that its shape and overall exterior design resemble Apple's Vision Pro. According to Bloomberg, which got a preview of the device, the similarities don't stop there.
Bloomberg says Project Moohan, like the Vision Pro, also connects to an external battery pack, uses premium display technology, and can switch between full VR modes and mixed reality, which combines your surroundings with a digital overlay using external cameras.
Sound familiar?
While Project Moohan shares many similarities with the Vision Pro, a few key differences have me legitimately excited. The number one difference that has me hopeful is Project Moohan's weight.
The Vision Pro might be an almost unparalleled consumer headset in terms of display and compute power, but all of that high-end hardware comes at a financial and physical cost. Honestly, Apple's Vision Pro is way too heavy.
Weight is a problem with a headset you are meant to wear on your face for long periods. According to reports from media members who have seen Project Moohan, Samsung and Google's headset headsets doob of lightening the load.
To make matters even scarier for Apple, Bloomberg says Samsung's headset also advances comfortability, a large cushion on the back of the device's strap, and an adjustable strap that reportedly distributes the weight more evenly.
Project Moohan may also challenge Vision Pro on another front: UI. Reports have highlighted that Samsung and Google's headsets focus on AI, which could aid computer vision tasks like identifying objects in the environment or supercharging a voice assistant and enable it to carry out more complex tasks.
Samsung and Google have even gone as far as to copy the Vision Pro's unique input method, which involves a mixture of hand and eye tracking and is easily the best, most intuitive input system I've used in a headset yet.
And I know what you're thinking: if it looks like a Vision Pro and works like a Vision Pro, it will cost as much as one... right?
A more affordable Vision Pro competitor
The most enticing aspect of Project Moohan is that it promises to do much of what the Vision Pro does but for less than $3,500.
That's obviously a low benchmark in many ways — $3,500 for an XR headset is eye-watering — but if Samsung and Google manage to undercut that Apple premium, they could have a real contender.
As I've said, price is a considerable barrier for headsets, mainly since they are expensive toys. It's hard to say what most people's price threshold is for a gadget that they don't particularly, but if Samsung and Google can hit the $1,500 mark I'd say they have a shot at, actually selling a few of these.
There's still a lot we don't know about Project Moohan, including when exactly it will be unveiled or released. Still, for the first time, the Vision Pro seems to have a competitor with specs and abilities that match those of the headset.
