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.
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