Android XR headset: everything you should know about Samsung’s Moohan project

TechRadar

Samsung has been teasing Project Moohan for quite a while, and the device made a cameo appearance last month at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit… under glass. We haven’t seen an official working prototype yet. The new headset will presumably use Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon XR2 chipset, but many questions about its specs and capabilities remain.

Transcript

00:00Project Muhan's Samsung's XR headset is rumoured to be breaking cover very soon so let's break

00:09down what we know so you're ready for that upcoming announcement. Project Muhan is the

00:18development name for Samsung's first Android XR headset but we assume it'll get a more

00:23consumery name when it launches. Kind of like how Meta renamed Project Cambria as the Quest Pro

00:29when that eventually released. The headset will run on Google's brand new operating system,

00:34a version of Android built specifically for XR headsets and glasses which leverages

00:39Google Gemini to achieve many of the features we've been shown so far in demos which includes

00:45identifying both real and virtual objects, exploring locations in Google Earth or researching topics

00:51across multiple Google services at once. We know it will also run on the Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2

00:57chipset. That announcement came a while ago from Qualcomm around the start of 2024 so I wouldn't

01:03be completely surprised if Samsung and Qualcomm decided to outfit this thing with something a

01:09little bit newer. Though a leaked benchmark for Muhan from this year suggests that Gen 2 XR2 Plus

01:15is still in use alongside a solid 16GB of RAM. That's double the MetaQuest 3's 8GB and the same

01:23as what the Apple Vision Pro delivers. It should also boast high-end micro OLED displays from Samsung

01:29Display, of course, with a screen resolution of around 3,800 pixels per inch. As with all leaks,

01:36this hasn't been officially confirmed, but the Vision Pro, which Samsung looks to be targeting,

01:42offers a display of around 3,400 pixels per inch, so this leaked figure isn't completely outside the

01:49realm of possibility. Sticking with the Vision Pro comparisons, Samsung is also apparently set to

01:54launch Muhan with an external battery pack. So rather than the battery being worn on your head

01:59with the other components, it will slip into your pocket to save weight, which shouldn't only cut the

02:04weight of the device considerably, it should hopefully make it a little bit more comfortable to wear

02:09than a bulky VR headset is normally. As you might expect from what's shaping up to be a more premium

02:15product, Samsung's headset has a high rumoured price of between 2.5 and 4 million won, which is a

02:23starting price of around $1,800. If this proves true, that would sandwich Muhan comfortably between

02:29the MetaQuest 3 and the Apple Vision Pro price-wise, which is no bad spot to be in if Samsung can stick

02:36the landing with this headset.

02:38Okay, so enough about the hardware leaks. When might we find out if Muhan will stick the landing

02:47or not? Well, if the rumours are true, we should see it very, very soon. The latest leaks from

02:53industry insiders claiming knowledge about the launch point to an October 22nd release date for

02:59Muhan, though that might only be for folks that live in South Korea and possibly some neighbouring

03:05countries. This kind of slower global rollout isn't completely unheard of. Samsung has previously

03:11debuted South Korea exclusive tech like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 SE, and other companies are known to

03:18roll out hardware steadily, usually with a launch at home first. Case in point, the Meta Ray-Ban display

03:24glasses are debuting in the US first. You can actually go out and buy the glasses right now at select

03:30stores, but they won't be arriving elsewhere until 2026 at the earliest.

03:38As for what we don't know yet about Project Muhan, for me the most important thing that's still up in the air

03:44is what kind of software support this headset will have. Yes, okay, we know it'll run on Android XR, but beyond

03:50a few basic, overarching promises and a handful of limited demos, no one has really got a proper taste for what

03:56Android XR means in terms of apps and other software. And a well supported operating system can make or

04:03break a VR system. Take the Apple Vision Pro. From a hardware perspective, that thing is a beast, with chipsets

04:11putting on par with Apple's laptops leagues ahead of its mobile computing chip powered rivals. At least,

04:18it does in theory. In practice, the Apple Vision Pro has disappointed users time and again because

04:24it doesn't have those key apps to justify its price and power. Yes, it can do a handful of neat things,

04:31but nothing seriously of note that the much cheaper MetaQuest 3 can't also achieve. I thought it might

04:36even be able to run some Mac apps, for example, but only if you also have an Apple computer to hook

04:42it up to. Which is something of a shame when it's got so much power under the hood. The Quest 3,

04:48on the other hand, has a large suite of exclusive apps and games which help it to fend off all sorts

04:54of rivals. Even more similarly priced, yet better specced hardware like the Pico 4 Ultra can't compete

05:00because Meta's Horizon OS boasts such excellent exclusive software that me recommending anything

05:06other than a Quest 3 would be doing you a disservice. Project Muhan will live or die based on how

05:12useful its software ends up being. If it gives us a reason to put it on every day, that's the mark

05:17of success. Anything less may make it a tough sell if it does end up costing as much as is rumoured.

05:23So in terms of what this would look like in practice, I want to see a mixture of VR games,

05:28entertainment apps for a big screen experience, maybe even some 3D content which is currently kind

05:33of hard to come by in VR and XR in general. And for what seems to be a pro level device,

05:39several useful productivity apps could also be quite fun. I already use Google Suite every day

05:44for work and I wouldn't mind repeating my experiment from several years ago where I worked in VR for a

05:50week. Maybe Muhan's experience will be better than the Quest Pro's. In that vein, I'm also hoping

05:56Muhan will be really comfortable. I've heard good things from people who've tried it, like several

06:00members of our team, but short demos can only reveal so much about how comfy, or not as the case may

06:07end up being, a VR headset really is. Now hopefully I won't be waiting too long to find answers to all

06:12these questions and to verify if all the leaks are true about Project Muhan. When Samsung is finally

06:18ready to unveil the consumer version of its XR headset, you can be sure we'll let you know over

06:23here on YouTube and on techradar.com. We'll see you then.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended